Florida Governor Bans Cultivated Meat in Fight Against “Elites”

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has signed legislation which bans the sale of lab-grown meat in the US state.

In a statement following the announcement of the ban made yesterday (1 May), DeSantis said the state was “fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals”.

He added that his administration would continue supporting its “local farmers and ranchers” in a bid to “save our beef.”

Responding to the ban and the governor’s statement, Josh Tetrick, CEO of cell-based meat group Good Meat, said in a post on X: “I’m from Alabama, mom is a hairdresser, grew up poor. This is a loss for your state”.

Echoing DeSantis’s sentiments, Florida commissioner of agriculture, Wilton Simpson described the ban as “a tremendous step in the right direction.”