‘Lab-Grown’ Meat Maker Hosts Tasting Party in Miami as Florida Ban Takes Effect

MIAMI– How does Florida’s ban on “lab-grown” meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer has taken one last breather — at least for now — with a cultured meat tasting party in Miami.

California-based Upside Foods welcomed dozens of guests Thursday night at a rooftop reception in the Wynwood neighborhood, known for its street art, breweries, nightclubs and trendy restaurants.

“This is delicious meat,” said Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of Upside Foods. “And we fundamentally believe that people should have the option to choose what they want to put on their plate.”

The US approved the sale of what is now called “cell-cultured” or “cell-cultured” meat for the first time in June 2023, allowing Upside Foods and another California company, Good Meat, to sell cultured chicken.

Earlier this year, Florida and Alabama banned the sale of farmed meat and seafood, which is grown from animal cells. Other state and federal lawmakers have also sought to restrict it, arguing that the product could harm farmers and pose a safety risk to the public.

While Florida cattlemen came together Governor Ron DeSantis When he signed the ban into law in May, Valeti said Florida officials never contacted his company before passing the legislation.

“It is quite clear to us that the governor and the government were misinformed,” Valeti said. “And all we ask for is a chance to have a direct conversation and say, ‘this is proven science, this is proven safety.’”

Cultivated products are grown in steel tanks using cells from a live animal, a fertilized egg or a storage bank. The cells are fed with special mixtures of water, sugar, fats and vitamins. Once they grow, they turn into chops, nuggets, and other shapes.

Chef Mika Leon, owner of Caja Caliente in Coral Gables, prepared the cultured chicken for Thursday’s event, which invited the South Florida public to taste the first, and possibly the last, cultured meat before prohibition began. in Florida on Monday. Leon served chicken tostadas with avocado, chipotle cream and beetroot sprouts.

“When you cook it, it sizzles and cooks like chicken, which was crazy,” Leon said. “And then when you go to eat it, it’s juicy.”

Reception guest Alexa Arteaga said she could imagine cultured meat as a more ethical alternative.

“The texture itself is a little different, but the flavor was really, really good,” Arteaga said. “Much better than I expected.”

Another guest, Skyler Myers, agreed that the texture was different when eating a piece of meat on its own, but said it felt like regular chicken when she ate the tostada.

“There’s no difference,” Myers said. “I mean, you’d never know.”

In addition to the ethical issues surrounding the killing of animals, Valeti said cultured meat avoids many of the health and environmental problems created by the meat industry, such as deforestation, pollution and the spread of disease. He also noted that the meat his company produces does not come from a laboratory, but from a facility more akin to a brewery or a dairy processing plant.

“We don’t have confined animals,” said Valeti. “We only have healthy animal cells that grow in culturers.”

The restrictions come despite farmed meat and seafood still being too expensive to reach the market in any meaningful way. Two high-end U.S. restaurants briefly added the products to their menus, but they were not available in any U.S. supermarkets. Companies have been working to reduce costs by increasing production, but now they are also trying to respond to the bans with petitions and possible legal action.

Sean Edgett, chief legal officer at Upside Foods, said the company went through a years-long process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration before receiving approval. He said these federal regulations should supersede any state bans, which he believes are unconstitutional.

“We are hopeful that if lawmakers are unable to change their minds and turn things back on a path of progress, the courts will step in and make that clear,” Edgett said.

Proponents of the bans say they want to protect farmers and consumers from a product that has only been around for about a decade.

State Sen. Jay Collins, a Republican who sponsored the Florida bill, noted that the legislation does not prohibit research, only the manufacturing and sale of cultured meat. Collins said safety was his main motivator, but he also wants to protect Florida agriculture.

“Let’s not be in a rush to replace something,” Collins said earlier this year. “It’s a billion-dollar industry. We feed many people across the country with our livestock, beef, pork, poultry and fish industries.”

Valeti isn’t trying to replace any industry, just give people more options, he said.

“We want to have multiple choices that nourish us,” said Valeti. “Some of those choices are conventional agriculture. Some of these choices come from plant foods. And cultured meat is another solid choice.”