Florida’s ban on cultivated meat is being challenged in federal court in a lawsuit that was filed [August 12]. The case is being brought by the cultivated meat firm Upside Foods and the Institute of Justice (IJ), a nonprofit public interest law firm.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed the legislation making the sale of cultivated meat illegal in Florida on May 1, and the bill came into effect on July 1. Alabama passed a similar bill banning cultivated meat that will come into effect from October 1.
The case brought by Upside Foods and the IJ argues that Florida’s ban is unconstitutional in three different ways. First, they argue, the ban violates the Supremacy Clause that gives federal law priority over state law in certain instances. The court case argues that the Florida ban violates two different provisions in the Federal Meat Inspection Act and Poultry Products Inspection Act.
The legal complaint also alleges that the ban violates the Commerce Clause, which gives the US Congress exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce. The IJ argues that the Commerce Clause restricts states from enacting laws that unduly restrict interstate commerce, and that Florida’s ban in its current form has the effect of discriminating against it.
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“Florida’s law has nothing to do with protecting health and safety,” said IJ senior attorney Paul Sherman in a press conference today. “It is a transparent example of economic protectionism.”
