UPSIDE sues Florida over cell-grown meat ban

Florida is just too large a market, and it’s too precedent-setting among jurisdictions for the cell-grown meat ventures to let the ban of their product go unchallenged. So, to no one’s surprise, Upside Foods has sued Florida officials in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida at Tallahassee.

UPSIDE Foods Inc. is a corporation organized under Delaware law and based in Berkeley, CA. It is represented by the nonprofit public interest law firm Institute for Justice (IJ).

In a 31-page Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, IJ is challenging on constitutional grounds the newly enacted Florida law that bans the production, distribution, and sale of cultivated meat

IJ argues that Florida’s ban violates the Constitution’s provisions prohibiting protectionist measures designed to favor in-state businesses at the expense of out-of-state competitors. By targeting cultivated meat produced outside Florida, the law seeks to protect local meat producers from competition, undermining the principles of a national common market.

IJ’s Complaint says, “Simply put, consumers and restaurateurs like UPSIDE’s product because it tastes like chicken, which isn’t surprising since it’s made from chicken cells.”

Founded in 1991, IJ, through its National Food Freedom Initiative, is active in defending the rights of individuals to buy, sell, grow, and advertise a wide variety of foods without undue government interference.

“If some Floridians don’t like the idea of eating cultivated chicken, there’s a simple solution: Don’t eat it,” said Paul Sherman, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice. “The government has no right to tell consumers who want to try cultivated meat that they’re not allowed to. This law is not about safety; it’s about stifling innovation and protecting entrenched interests at the expense of consumer choice.”

 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1084 May 1, banning the manufacture, sale, or distribution of cultivated meat in Florida. It went into effect on July 1. In a statement announcing the lawsuit, the IJ Complaint says Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson made its protectionist motivations clear, saying: “We must protect our incredible farmers and the integrity of American agriculture . . . . Together, we will keep Florida’s agricultural industry strong and thriving.” Gov. DeSantis said cultivated meat “is designed to be a threat to agriculture as we know it. . . . [W]e’re snuffing this out at the beginning.”

The Complaint explains how the banned products are made.  “To produce cultivated meat, the manufacturer acquires and banks animal cells and then places these cells within a vessel known as a cultivator. Inside the cultivator, the cells are supplied with the same sort of nutrients that they would receive in an animal’s body. This allows the cells to grow into meat. Once grown, these cells can be harvested and formulated into products replicating conventional meat’s sensory and taste profile.”

 This innovative process allows UPSIDE Foods to produce meat without raising and slaughtering animals, providing a cruelty-free alternative that maintains the taste and texture of conventional meat, according to IJ. UPSIDE’s chicken is cooked and prepared the same way as conventional chicken.

The court document reports UPSIDE’s chicken has been given the green light by both the FDA and USDA, “affirming its safety and quality. And because it is cultivated in a controlled environment, the process can potentially reduce the risk of foodborne illnesses, contaminations, and other issues in modern animal agriculture.”

“Anyone who wants to try cultivated meat should have the opportunity to do so,” said Uma Valeti, founder of UPSIDE Foods. “Our mission is to offer a delicious, safe, and ethical alternative to conventional meat, and we believe Floridians deserve the freedom to make their own food choices. Cultivated meat represents a significant advancement in food technology with the potential to improve supply chain resilience, and we are committed to making it available to all.”

“For the same reason that California cannot ban orange juice made from oranges grown in Florida, Florida cannot ban UPSIDE’s meat,” explained IJ Attorney Suranjan Sen. “A major purpose for enacting the Constitution was to prevent exactly this kind of economic protectionism, ensuring that all Americans can benefit from a free and open national market. Florida cannot ban products that are lawful to sell throughout the rest of the country to protect in-state businesses from honest competition.”

Upside Foods grows meat, poultry, and seafood directly from real animal cells. In 2015, it was the world’s first cultivated meat company. It achieved numerous industry-defining milestones, including being approved to sell cultivated meat in the United States in June 2023 and completing the first consumer sale of cultivated meat in the U.S. 

The court will have to decide if SB 1084 is unconstitutional or not.

The IJ Complaint argues that SB 1084 violates the Supremacy Clause because it is expressly preempted by federal laws regulating meat and poultry products. SB 1084 also violates the dormant aspect of the Commerce Clause because it was enacted to insulate Florida agricultural businesses from innovative, out-of-state competition like UPSIDE.

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Source: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2024/08/upside-sues-florida-over-cell-grown-meat-ban/