Florida’s Attempt to Dismiss Cultivated Meat Lawsuit Denied by Judge

Upside Foods has been handed an initial legal victory after a judge denied Florida’s request to dismiss the lawsuit against its cultivated meat ban.

The lawsuit against Florida’s ban on cultivated meat is going ahead, after a judge rejected the state’s motion to dismiss the case.

In a 29-page ruling, Mark Walker, chief judge of the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida, granted cultivated meat producer Upside Foods a “first-round victory” in its challenge against Florida’s decision last Friday.

The judge’s decision to deny Florida’s attempt to dismiss the case means it will continue to move forward in the trial court. It comes months after Walker rejected Upside Foods’s request to grant a preliminary injunction to exhibit its cultivated chicken at December’s Art Basel festival in Miami.

Why Florida banned cultivated meat – and why it’s being sued

Upside Foods was among the first two startups to be allowed to sell cultivated meat in the US back in 2021, receiving approval from both the US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration. It rolled out the chicken at Michelin-starred eatery Bar Crenn in San Francisco, and has since been hosting pop-up events at various restaurants across the US.

In 2024, amid a growing wave of politically charged discontent against cultivated meat, Florida passed a bill that made it a crime to produce or sell cultivated meat, in what was the first such ban on these products in the US.

“Some people think Florida is theme parks, South Beach and maybe some oranges, but they don’t understand that we have one of the top cattle industries in the country,” Governor Ron DeSantis said when signing the legislation in May.

“What we’re protecting here is the industry against acts of man, against an ideological agenda that wants to finger agriculture as the problem, that views things like raising cattle as destroying our climate,” he added. “Take your fake lab-grown meat elsewhere. We’re not doing that in the state of Florida.”

Weeks after the law took effect in July, Upside Foods filed its legal complaint, labelling the ban “unconstitutional”. The lawsuit alleges that the move violates the federal Commerce Clause, which gives the national government exclusive power to regulate interstate commerce. The plaintiff argues that Florida’s law was enacted to protect in-state producers of conventional meat from out-of-state cultivated meat manufacturers.

Upside Foods, reprinted by the Institute for Justice, additionally suggests that the decision by two federal departments to allow the sale of its cultivated chicken in the interstate market supersedes any contrary state laws, as outlined in the Supremacy Clause.

The lawsuit and the subsequent rejection of the preliminary injunction cancelled the company’s scheduled appearances at Art Basel and the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, and postponed its planned debut at a restaurant in the state in early 2025.

Upside Foods ‘not looking to replace meat’

“One of the primary reasons for the enactment of the Constitution was to secure a national common market,” said Paul Sherman, a senior attorney at ICJ. “Today’s ruling is an important vindication of the principle that states cannot close their borders to innovative out-of-state competition, and a warning to other states that are considering banning cultivated meat.”

The ruling comes at a time when attempts to ban cultivated meat have become fashionable in the US, just as conventional meat sales reached a record high in 2024. Alabama and Mississippi have joined Florida in making this a law.

Nebraska is close to finalising a ban too, while South Dakota, South Carolina, West Virginia, Montana, Wyoming and Georgia are some of the others that are mulling the move this year.

These efforts are fuelled by a cultural shift in the US, as beef becomes a favourite amid a renewed wave of Americana and right-wing influence, the rise of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again movement, and his crusade against ultra-processed foods.

To date, over 20 states have attempted to ban cultivated meat – from Kentucky, New York, and Tennessee to Pennsylvania, Texas and Arizona – but most of these efforts have fallen by the wayside.

Even members of the meat industry have criticised these attempts. In a letter sent to DeSantis in March 2024, the North American Meat Institute called the ban “bad public policy”. “These bills establish a precedent for adopting policies and regulatory requirements that could one day adversely affect the bills’ supporters,” it said, emphasising the importance of consumer choice.

“Upside is not looking to replace conventional meat, which will always have a place at the table,” said Uma Valeti, co-founder and CEO of Upside Foods, which is pursuing approval to sell a new shredded chicken product by the end of this year.

“All we are asking for is the right to compete, so that Floridians can try our product and see that it is possible to have delicious meat without the need for slaughtering animals,” he added. “Today’s ruling is an important step towards securing that right.”