July 1, 2024, marks the first day of the new Florida law, banning the manufacturing, sale, or distribution of lab-grown (cultivated) meat.
Also to ban the production and sale of cultivated meat was the state of Alabama, whilst U.S states such as Arizona, Wisconsin, Texas, Nebraska, and Tennessee are debating similar proposals. Growing distrust in the lab-grown meat industry has also been seen in Italy, as they announced in 2023 they would be banning cultivated meat production, under the reasoning of protecting farmers, food quality and tradition.
The REAL Meal Act, reintroduced by Ohio Representative Warren Davidson, has also targeted the cultivated meat industry, with a bill that would prohibit the U.S Government from investing in cultivated meat.
In 2023, ‘Upside Foods’ and ‘Eat Just’ became the first US company to earn approval to sell cultivated meat from the USDA. Upside Foods recently held a ‘final tasting’ event in Miami, giving attendees a last chance to taste the cultivated chicken before the ban.
Lab-grown, or ‘cultivated meat’, is a meat product produced through the culturing of animal cells in vitro, using tissue engineering techniques. According to this report on the life cycle assessment of cultivated meat, the product can offer significant environmental gains compared to conventional meats. In a 2020 study by a researcher at the John Hopkins Centre for a liveable future, it was concluded that cellular meat emissions were significantly lower than traditional meat, however they were still 5 to 21 times higher than plant protein emissions.
Many supporters of the ban have stated reasons in the interest of public health, as the research into the nutrition and potential health risks is ongoing. Another key reason heard would be the need to protect the livelihoods of ranchers, livestock farmers, and the industrial meat sector, citing the production and sale of cultivated meat as a ‘war on ranching.’
