The Florida House on Wednesday approved a wide-ranging bill that would ban the sale of cultivated meat.
The chamber voted 86-27 to pass the bill (SB 1084), which would make changes related to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
The bill would make it a second-degree misdemeanor to sell or manufacture cultivated, or lab-grown, meat.
The Senate passed a version of the measure last week. The bill, which has the backing of the state’s agriculture industry, next heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing.
Creating cultivated meat involves a process of taking a small number of cultured cells from animals and growing them in controlled settings to make food.
Federal agencies have deemed lab-grown, or cultivated, meat safe to eat. But the legislation, supported by the state’s agriculture industry, “pumps the brakes” on the food to ensure it is safe.
An earlier version of the bill would have prohibited research into cultivated meat, but concerns were raised that doing so could affect the space industry, which is looking at cultivated meat for long-term space journeys.
Information from News Service of Florida was used in this report.
