William Simpson
Alabama has become the second US state to say no to cultured meat, an alternative protein made from animal cells.
Alabama accountproposed by Senator Jack Williams, vice chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, and signed into law on May 7 by Governor Kay Ivy, prohibits “the manufacture, sale or distribution of food products made from cultured animal cells.”
The new law comes a week after Governor Ron DeSantis made Florida the first state to ban the sale of so-called laboratory-grown meat. “We support agriculture, we support ranchers, we support our farmers, because we understand it’s important to the backbone of the state,” DeSantis said at a news conference on May 1, the start of National Beef Month.
“Today, Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in petri dishes or insects to achieve their authoritarian goals,” the DeSantis added.
Beef and breeding cattle sales generate more than US$900 million per year in the state, according to to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Beef production is a focal point in climate change discussions as it is a major contributor to global methane emissions. “A single cow produces between 154 and 264 pounds of methane gas per year,” according to to the Environmental Protection Agency. Multiply that by the 1.5 billion cattle raised worldwide and you get a total of at least 231 billion pounds of methane spewed into the atmosphere annually.
In contrast, cell-based proteins don’t require the land, water and crops needed to raise livestock, which is a boon for the environment as global demand for meat increases, experts note. Global funding for cultured meat and seafood companies, of which there are more than 100, reached US$225.9 million in 2023 and a total of more than US$3 billion since 2013, according to to the Boa Alimentação Institute.
“Legislation banning cultured meat is a reckless move that ignores food safety experts and science, stifles consumer choice, and hinders American innovation,” Sean Edgett, chief legal officer at Upside Foods, said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch . “Big meat companies have invested in cultured meat to increase supply chain resilience and meet growing global demand for meat. We should embrace innovation for a better food future.”
On the plus side, one of only two cultured meat companies to receive authorization from the USDA To sell its chicken products in the US, it received investments from food giants Cargill and Tyson Foods, as well as billionaires Richard Branson and Bill Gates.
In response to the Alabama and Florida bans, Upside initiated a change.org petition urging consumers to tell politicians “to stop policing” their dishes.
—With reporting from the Associated Press.
