May 7, 2024

Florida, US govenor signs bill banning lab-grown meat

Florida has become the first state in the United States to outlaw the manufacture and distribution of lab-grown meat.

Florida Govenor Ron DeSantis on May 1, signed into law the bill, which would ban lab-grown meat. The ban – it does not include Impossible meat, which is made from plant-based ingredients – is meant to protect cattle ranchers and the "integrity of American agriculture," DeSantis said.

However, critics have slammed move as misguided. Many meat-alternative companies and supporters consider lab-grown meat as a way to address the environmental and ethical concerns tied to traditional mass-production of meat.

Initially, lab-grown meat will cost more than three times as much to produce as natural beef, a 2021 analysis found.

However, non-profit think tank Good Food Institute has cited research published in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment forecasting cultivated meat production to eventually be nearly three times more efficient than conventional beef production, with the potential to reduce the carbon footprint by 92%, land use by 90% and water use by 66%.

In 2024, among other US states, Florida ranked ninth for beef cattle production with 862,000.  Beef cattle sales and sales of breeding stock generate a total economic impact of more than US$900 million annually, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

- USA Today