TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Lawyers representing the state of Florida and a California company that sells lab-grown meat fought in court Monday over whether the state’s ban on the product violates federal law.
Lawyers representing Upside Foods told U.S. District Judge Mark Walker that federal law regulating poultry preempts states from banning what some Florida officials are calling “fake” meat.
Florida’s ban was the first in the nation, according to the libertarian-leaning Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm that filed the lawsuit on behalf of Upside.
Walker held the hearing on Upside Foods’ request for a preliminary injunction to block the ban, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last May. The company said it wants to be able to provide its chicken to chefs at the upscale Art Basel festival in Miami Beach in December.
