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A company that produces lab-grown meat has filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida, challenging a ban that prohibits the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of lab-grown meat within the state.

What’s the deal: UPSIDE Foods, a company specializing in lab-grown meat, filed a lawsuit challenging Florida’s law. The company argues that the ban is unconstitutional, claiming it unfairly protects in-state meat producers while discriminating against out-of-state companies.

What Lawyers for UPSIDE are saying: In court documents, lawyers for UPSIDE said, “If some Floridians don’t like the idea of eating cultivated chicken, there’s a simple solution: Don’t eat it. 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.”

What’s Florida’s law?: Florida’s ban on the production, distribution, and sale of lab-grown meat, signed by Governor Ron DeSantis, went into effect on July 1, 2023. Governor DeSantis and other state officials defended the law as a way to protect Florida’s agricultural industry.

Digging Deeper: According to its website, UPSIDE specializes in “breakfast sausage” and “versatile” chicken. According to the company, the process of making its lab-grown meat starts by “taking a small amount of cells from an animal” to “develop a cell line.” From there, they begin the “cultivation process by placing cells from a selected cell line into a cultivator.” Roughly two to three weeks later, their “meat is ready for harvest.” From there, they mold the meat into shapes that resemble actual meat.