Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed his support for legislation looking to ban the sale of fake meat in the Sunshine State.
According to Florida Phoenix, the measure would make it a “criminal misdemeanor to manufacture, sell, or distribute ‘cultivated meat,’ defined as ‘any meat or food product produced from cultured animal cells.’”
Operating licenses could also be pulled from establishments that sell or serve fake meat.
The Republican governor argued the nascent industry is just another way Americans are trying to be controlled.
“They really want to go after agriculture, how they do. They blame agriculture for global warming,” DeSantis said.
“You need meat, okay? We’re going to have meat in Florida. Like, we’re not going to have fake meat. Like, that doesn’t work,” he continued.
“But there’s a whole ideological agenda that’s coming after, I think, a lot of important parts of our society. And, like, Florida, we have a lot of agriculture. Florida also relies on reliable energy to power our electric grid, especially in the face of natural disasters. When Hurricane Ian came through, we got the lights back on because we had access to reliable energy. If we had to rely on windmills and solar panels, we would not have gotten the lights back on when we did.”
BREAKING: Gov. Ron DeSantis supports cracking down on lab-grown meat as lawmakers consider bill to ban it
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) February 2, 2024
"You need meat. OK? We're gonna have meat in Florida [...] We're gonna have fake meat? That doesn't work. We're gonna make sure to do it right." pic.twitter.com/8KkG4b0mMD
Last year, the US Department of Agriculture approved two California-based companies to sell lab-grown meat making the U.S. the second country in the world to allow such products.