Florida Criminalizes Lab-grown Chicken and Beef Tech

Florida Republicans are pushing for a ban on lab-grown meat to protect the state’s cattle and farming industries.

• House Bill 435 seeks to criminalize the sale and distribution of lab-grown meat in Florida.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture allowed companies like Upside Foods and Good Meat to serve it in restaurants.
• The tech industry worked relentlessly to produce a middle ground where we have cruelty-free meat consumption.

Republicans down in Florida want to ban lab-grown meat, both beef and chicken, in an effort to protect the cattle and farming industries.

Florida Republican lawmaker Tyler Sirois has introduced House Bill 435, aiming to criminalize the sale and distribution of lab-grown meat in the state. Apparently, the bill defines “cultivated meat” as any product produced from cultured animal cells. It also proposes stringent penalties for violators.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner and industrial egg farmer Wilton Simpson supports the initiative. In fact, he emphasized the need for legislation to prevent the sale of potentially unsafe and unregulated lab-produced meat in the state.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the lab-grown chicken and beef back in June. It then allowed lab-grown meat companies like Upside Foods and Good Meat to serve it in restaurants.

These cultured meat companies go to great lengths to eliminate the need for slaughtering animals. Not to mention reducing the environmental impacts associated with traditional livestock farming.

1. They biopsy either the fat or the muscle of the animal.
2. They isolate and then cultivate the cells in a nutrient-rich medium.
3. They encourage the cells to grow into the different components of meat, including fat and muscle tissues.
4. And just like constructing a building, they arrange the differentiated cells in a specific formation (ex: hamburger patty, steak, etc…)
5. Once the meat tissue has reached the desired maturity, they harvest the final product.

Have you noticed something? No animals are harmed in this process.

The process could also replace the extensive land and water resources required for traditional farming.

The proposed legislation would make selling or distributing lab-grown meat a second-degree misdemeanor.

Ever since movements against animal cruelty began, the tech industry has taken it upon itself to find a solution. Preferably, this solution would keep giving us access to one of our main food groups without the animal cruelty that comes with it.

And this is what they came up with.

Cultured meat companies have restructured food production, arguing the benefits for both our ecosystem and global food security.

Is the concept of lab-grown chicken and beef bizarre? Yes. But is it really the most bizarre thing to come out of the tech industry? I think not.

We can certainly argue that. like for any other innovation. It will reconstruct our world. So yes, these technologies might creep up in blue collars’ territory.

But shouldn’t the principle of the greater good apply here?

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