The lab meat debate marches on
A federal judge recently cleared the way for a California-based food company to continue challenging a Florida law banning the manufacture and sale of lab-grown meat. But in doing so, he trimmed back the company’s multipronged dispute against the Sunshine State’s 2023 law.
District Court Judge Mark Walker’s decision the Dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution protects businesses from discrimination in interstate commerce allowed Upside Foods, Inc. to move forward with only one point of its case.
Walker generally sided with state attorneys and livestock industry interests which are seeking to dismiss Upside Foods’ lawsuit. He said while the production and sale of lab-grown meat is allowed by federal law, it doesn’t mean individual states can’t ban its production and sale.
The April 25 decision on motions filed by the defendants – Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and state attorneys – to dismiss the case came after Walker rejected Upside Foods’ request for a preliminary injunction to halt the law in October.
Upside Foods has appealed Walker’s October decision to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
History of lab-grown meat
The first cultured beef was created in 2013 in the Netherlands. By 2020, the world’s initial commercial sale of cell-cultured meat occurred at a restaurant in Singapore.
Meanwhile the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) agreed in March 2019 to establish a framework for the production of human foods made from cultured cells taken from livestock and poultry. Their intent was to ensure any such products placed into commerce are safe, unadulterated and truthfully labeled.
Under the joint rules, FDA oversees the collection, growth and the differentiation of living cells, such as proteins and fats. FSIS regulates the harvesting stage of the cell-culturing process, along with the processing, labeling and packaging of the products.
The federal rules enacted in July 2023 paved the way for two California startups – Good Meat, Inc. and Upside Foods, Inc. – to enter lab-cultivated chicken into interstate commerce.
Two high-end Washington, D.C. restaurants added Good Meat’s chicken products to their menus.
Upside Foods soon thereafter produced the first cultivated beef while exploring the cell cultivation of other meats and seafoods. The company claims it can generate any meat, poultry or seafood protein in its labs.
The production process is similar to the fermentation of yeast. It starts with animal tissue cells placed in a tightly controlled and monitored environment. The cells are fed an oxygen-rich culture medium containing amino acids, glucose, vitamins and inorganic salts – typically supplemented with patent-protected “growth factors” and other proteins.
Once the cells begin to multiply, more nutrients and growth factors are added to create a specific type of tissue. As tissues grow, they assume characteristics of muscle, fat or connective material and can be harvested and prepared with conventional food processing methods.
Bucking the headwinds
Both optimists and pessimists of lab-grown meat know for cultivated meat to have significant impact, the industry will have to increase to a scale previously unmatched by any biopharma, fermentation or biotechnology business in history.
Cultivated meat startups are also pursuing the Holy Grail of the alternative protein sector – price parity with traditional livestock farm-raised animal protein.
Then there’s simply the stigma of producing “Frankenfoods,” a term long-used by activists who rage against industrialized food production.
“The lab-grown meat sector will continue to face headwinds as consumers and lawmakers learn more about the use of immortalized cells,” said Jack Hubbard, executive director of the Center for Environment and Welfare, one of the leading critics of lab-grown meat. “We are seeing a bipartisan consumer movement against an experimental product we believe will ultimately intensify as more people learn about how lab-grown meat is manufactured.”
Yet, proponents of lab-grown proteins say old-fashioned protectionism is lurking behind livestock industry opposition. They say Florida’s ban was enacted after intense lobbying by cattle interests and their anticompetitive resolutions.
“Protecting agricultural interests from competition is not a legitimate use of government power,” said a spokesperson for the Institute for Justice, Upside Foods’ legal group. “All Upside Foods wants is the right to sell its innovative products to willing Florida consumers.”
The Institute for Justice further contended the USDA and FDA both reviewed the evidence Upside Foods’ product is just as safe as conventional product and gave the company the green light to market its product throughout the country.
Where’s the lab-grown beef?
There has been some speculation about McDonald’s Corp. using lab-grown meat in its burgers, but McDonald’s said their burger patties are made with 100 percent North American beef.
In fact, McDonald’s foray into the plant-based beef world proved short lived.
The McPlant burger, a Beyond Meat patty that debuted Feb. 1, 2022 in San Francisco and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, failed to ignite customer interest. This suggests American consumers, unlike their European counterparts, where the McPlant remains available, weren’t seeking plant-based options at McDonald’s, a company spokesperson said.
There are no confirmed plans for Chick-fil-A to switch to lab-grown meat. Chick-fil-A has stated it is committed to sourcing traditional meat products, emphasizing its focus on quality and where the food originates.
While Burger King offers a plant-based option in the Impossible Whopper, the company does not currently use lab-grown meat in its products. Burger King’s traditional burgers are made with 100 percent beef.
Across the globe, Italy has become the first country to ban cell-cultured animal products and animal feed.
“In defense of health of the Italian production system and thousands of jobs, of our culture and tradition, Italy is the first nation in the world to be safe from the social and economic risks of synthetic food,” said Italy’s Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida.
The European Union’s Council of Ministers has said the lab-grown meat sector is not “a sustainable alternative to primary farm-based production.”
Additionally, the Austrian and French agricultural ministers are presently opposed to cultivated meat production. The countries of Czechia, Cyprus, Hungary, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia have also supported the argument.
As of the end of 2024, additional cultivated meat products are under regulatory review in Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Thailand and South Korea.
But in China, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs created a pace for lab-grown proteins with the release of its official five-year agricultural plan this past January. The plan includes cultivated meats and other “future foods” like plant-based eggs as part of its blueprint for food security going forward.
Fencing out lab-grown meat
Florida was the first U.S. state to fence out federal rules enacted in 2023 allowing the production and sale of cell-cultured meats. In doing so, Florida’s lawmakers lit a fuse igniting opposition to artificially-produced proteins across the U.S.
“We stand with agriculture. We stand with cattle ranchers. We stand with farmers because we understand it’s important for the backbone of the state,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “Take your fake lab-grown meat elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere” is shirking though as livestock and poultry interests in at least seven other states have convinced their respective legislatures to pump the brakes on lab-grown meats.
On Oct. 1, 2024, Alabama became the second state to ban the sale of cultured meat.
In March, the legislature unanimously passed House Bill (HB) 1006 banning the manufacture, sale or distribution of cultivated food products derived from cultured animal cells in Mississippi.
In Montana, HB0401 prohibits the manufacture, sale or distribution of cell-cultured edible products.
Starting Oct. 1, 2025, any retail food establishment which violates the law faces suspension of their license, fines and imprisonment if convicted.
In Nebraska, a bill barring the distribution or sale of cultivated protein food products throughout the state received approval on May 14 of this year.
As of July 1, entities in the state of Indiana will not be able to sell cultivated meat products for two years.
In Oklahoma, a new law aims at alerting consumers if a product comes directly from an animal or from somewhere else – an attempt to prevent false advertising. Lawmakers said specific labeling rules on meat products, including those made in a lab or from cellular cultivation, were better than banning them.
In September 2023, the Texas Legislature stopped short of banning lab-grown meats. It passed a law requiring the labels of cultivated meat products sold in the state to say “cell-cultured,” “lab-grown” or have similar language on the packaging.
But not California. There’s widespread support in the Golden State for the innovation of cell-cultured animal products.
The University of California, Davis opened the Integrative Center for Alternative Meat and Protein in January 2024. The center’s Director David Block said advancements in sustainable alternative proteins will lead to widespread distribution of affordable products in 10 to 15 years.
Clint Peck is an author for BEEF Magazine. This article was originally published in BEEF Magazine on May 20.
