In May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1084, the first law in the country to ban the manufacture, distribution or sale of cultivated meat. Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit, public interest law firm, announced this week that it, along with leading cultivated meat company UPSIDE Foods, has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the ban.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida on August 13, 2024, raises claims under the Commerce Clause and the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. According to the Institute for Justice, all UPSIDE Foods wants is the right to sell its innovative product to willing Florida consumers.

IJ pointed out that the ban doesn’t stem from concerns about safety but rather economic protectionism.

“Why did Florida ban cultivated meat? It’s not because of concerns about safety. The USDA and FDA have both reviewed the evidence that UPSIDE’s product is just as safe as conventional chicken and given the company the green light to sell its product throughout the country. Instead, Gov. DeSantis has positioned the ban as a blow to ‘the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals,’” IJ noted.

IJ said protecting in-state agricultural interests from innovative out-of-state competition is not a legitimate use of government power.

The lawsuit states: “UPSIDE doesn’t want to force anyone to eat cultivated meat. But it does want the opportunity to distribute its product to willing consumers, so that those consumers can decide for themselves whether UPSIDE’s product is worth eating. And UPSIDE has a right to do so, because SB 1084 is unconstitutional.”