Alabama and Florida Just Banned the Sale of Lab-Grown Meat
Lab-grown meat isn’t yet an everyday product—and some states are trying to make sure it never is.
Alabama has just banned the creation and sale of cultivated meat, Wired reported on Thursday. When the law goes into effect in October, anyone found guilty of manufacturing, selling, or distributing lab-grown meat could face up to three months in jail and a $500 fine.
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The southern state becomes the second in recent days to prohibit cultivated meat: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a similar bill into law in the Sunshine State earlier this month, Wired noted. The two bans mean that some 28 million Americans live in a place where lab-grown meat has been outlawed, although the Alabama bill allows higher-education institutes and government departments to carry out research in the emerging field.
Proponents of lab-grown meat are understandably upset about the new rules. “Legislation that bans cultivated meat is a reckless move that ignores food safety experts and science, stifles consumer choice, and hinders American innovation,” Sean Edgett, the chief legal officer of Upside Foods, told Wired. “It makes politicians the food police, and it ignores the food safety experts at USDA and FDA who have deemed it safe.” (Upside Foods is one of just two companies approved to sell cultivated meat in the United States.)
Lab-grown meat—in which real animal cells are used to grow protein—has emerged as an alternative to the traditional, climate-intensive meat industry. It’s largely seen as more environmentally friendly and respectful of animals than current slaughtering practices. Still, companies engaged in the cultivated-meat industry have been slow to gain regulatory approval. And despite some big-name chefs at one point using lab-grown products in their restaurants, such as Dominique Crenn cooking up lab-grown chicken at her Bar Crenn, faux meat is not currently available at any dining establishments in the country, according to Wired.
In Alabama, the ban on cultivated meat passed relatively easily: Just 14 people voted against the bill in the state house, while no one opposed it in the senate, Wired wrote. But those in the industry will likely fight the bill, and Upside Foods has already started a petition against Florida’s law.
“With these shortsighted laws, Alabama and Florida politicians are trampling on consumer choice and criminalizing agricultural innovation,” Pepin Andrew Tuma, the legislative director of the Good Food Institute, told Wired. “At a time when American farmers and manufacturers face stiff competition around the world, states can either support new initiatives that create thousands of good-paying jobs, or they can play politics and police the foods people eat.”
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