Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has banned lab-grown meat, saying he will “save our beef” from the “global elite” and its “authoritarian plans”.

“Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs,” Mr DeSantis said in a statement.

The first-in-the-nation law prohibits anyone from selling or distributing lab-grown meat in Florida.

Similar efforts are under way in Alabama, Arizona and Tennessee.

Lab-grown or “cultivated” meat was first cleared for consumption in the US in 2022.

The process of making cultivated meat involves extracting cells from an animal, which are then fed with nutrients such as proteins, sugars and fats. The end product is genetically indistinguishable from traditionally produced meat.

Studies have suggested that eating cultivated meat can cut carbon emissions and water usage, and free up land for nature, compared to eating traditionally produced meat.

  • BurningnnTree@lemmy.one
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    8 months ago

    I can’t wait for lab grown meat to become widely available (in my state at least). I think it’s really cool. Being able to eat real meat without harming animals sounds so futuristic. It’s one piece of future technology that I can actually get behind.

    • subignition@fedia.io
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      8 months ago

      Agreed. I think the environmental impact is much lower as well, which is basically a win/win if prices can compete with farmed animals.

      • Billiam@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        It could, if we could stop giving factory farms subsidies and give them to lab-meat-makers instead.

      • Enkrod@feddit.de
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        8 months ago

        I’m absolutely not sold on the lower ecological footprint, the same hubub was made about vertical farming and that was either highly expensive or came with a gigantic footprint.

        But I sure hope it pans out.

        • Chreutz@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Vertical farm viability scales almost inversely with electricity costs. And the latter trends lower and lower as time goes by. So I’m pretty confident that it’s coming.

          • ThirdWorldOrder@lemm.ee
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            8 months ago

            I used to build large scale hydroponic farms over a decade ago and they are super efficient at using resources

    • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
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      8 months ago

      Yeah me too.

      Even if you don’t care about animals, synthetic will be cheaper, tastier, healthier, and better for the environment.

      Honestly the only thing not to like about it is that you don’t like the idea.

      • Agrivar@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        I dream of lab-grown bacon. Each piece an identical example of bacon perfection: just the right thickness and ratio of meat to fat.

        • Echo Dot
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          8 months ago

          A law mandating Floridians pay more for their food than any other U.S.citizen. Yeah, I’m sure that won’t be overturned.

          • Agrivar@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Not sure how that’s relevant to my statement regarding lab-grown bacon, but if you don’t think individual states pass laws that make their citizens pay more for things, you’re not very familiar with the U.S.A.

    • variants@possumpat.io
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      8 months ago

      The thing I never got about the plant based burger patties is they try to make it taste like a scrappy beef patty instead of making ot taste good in its own flavor. Like why can’t it just be its own thing like how a chicken sandwich is different than a beef burger

      • chetradley@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        The idea is that you can quickly and easily replicate a flavor you’re used to and remove the animal element. You can also buy it and have a good idea what it will taste like.

        But it’s not healthy! Yeah no kidding, when I eat a burger it’s generally not for the health benefits.

        • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Are you referring to plant-based burgers? That would definitely apply to Beyond and Impossible as they add way too much coconut oil, and salt. In other words they’re unhealthy for some of the same reasons animal flesh is unhealthy, although they are still less harmful than their animal counterparts just by lacking the animal proteins.

          • chetradley@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Pretty much. Although I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t add salt to a burger anyway, and the beyond/impossible burgers don’t need any extra, so I don’t think the sodium content is a super fair comparison.

      • RBWells@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        As others already noted, you can get veggie burgers that taste like veggie burgers. I actually order black bean burgers with bacon and cheese and jalapenos at the cafe at my work, they are so good. Like it much better with black bean burger than hamburger.

      • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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        8 months ago

        I mean, you’re basically describing a black bean burger. The real question is why we still can’t buy like, pre-packaged black bean burger mix or ready made patties easily.

        • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          You can, at least in my local grocery stores. Black bean burger patties have been available in the frozen section for years.

          They’re a bit of a rip off because they’re way more expensive than a can of beans + spices, and probably an order of magnitude more expensive than dry beans + spices, but they’re usually around the same price as the premade beef patties, by weight.

          • djsoren19@yiffit.net
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            8 months ago

            Damn, guess I just live in an area where they’re not as common then. They’re definitely a rip-off, but then so are all pre-made patties. You pay a premium for the convenience.

            • interrobang@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              8 months ago

              If you live near Aldi’s, they have a frozen black bean patty available sometimes. I can’t tell the rhythm or reason to when they stock it, but they are reasonably priced and pretty tasty if ya see em

            • variants@possumpat.io
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              8 months ago

              I don’t think ive ever heard of a black bean burger I’ll have to see if I can make some one day

      • MilitantVegan@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Some of them are, and it doesn’t take long (maybe a year) on a plant-based lifestyle to start naturally preferring more plant-forward burgers.

      • Magnetic_dud@discuss.tchncs.de
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        8 months ago

        It depends how they make them. Some plant based burgers are just made with scraps from soy milk production, look like expired meat and taste like polystyrene or worse while the impossible burger it’s difficult to distinguish with a blind test: the flavor, the texture and the appearance are extremely similar. They even have the fake blood in the middle

    • WIZARD POPE💫@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      The only thing I really dont know about is the texture. If its ground down it will be indistinguishable. But are they able to make steaks that look and feel like actual steaks?

    • AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      One thing people are afraid of though is being “duped”. In a world where everyone is afraid of deception, they want all the products they consume to be clearly labeled. My partner thinks that they’ve been steadily replacing all meat with lab-grown and just not telling anyone and not labeling the packaging. Like, one day she stopped buying the chicken breasts she’d normally get, saying that “it doesn’t taste right. It doesn’t taste how it did pre-pandemic. They’ve done something to it.”

  • breadsmasher@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Do his supporters really believe hes an “every man” like them, and not literally one of the “global elite”?

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    “To fight authoritarianism, the government is going to restrict your dietary choices!”

    • Don Insantis
  • OpenStars@discuss.online
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    8 months ago

    If you don’t want it, don’t buy it, problem solved!

    bUt MuH fReEdOmS!?

    The only thing that can stop a bad meat maker is a good meat maker?!

  • catch22@programming.dev
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    8 months ago

    For your convenience:

    https://www.goodmeat.co/

    The company who’s product they are banning.

    Along the same vein, there was another company recently who made plant based blue cheese that was disqualified from a blue cheese contest after they were going to take first.

    https://boingboing.net/2024/04/29/after-a-vegan-blue-cheese-won-the-good-food-award-panicked-dairy-cheese-makers-forced-the-foundation-to-disqualify-it.html

  • CileTheSane@lemmy.ca
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    8 months ago

    “Florida is fighting back against the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs,” Mr DeSantis said in a statement.

    “Force the world” by… Having it as an option.

    The party of small government and the free market everybody!

  • Grayox@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    I want lab grown steaks so bad. Why are these ‘Capitalist’ so against the free market?

    • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      They always have been. Capitalism isn’t about a free market, it’s about keeping the richest most powerful industrialists at the top.

    • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Imo this is clearly influenced by the meat lobby, National Cattleman’s Beef Association, or the like. They know many people would happily pay for lab grown meat, which would destroy their current market, forcing a costly pivot where they would lose their historic market control.

      Whenever weird shit like this happens in the US, it’s all about money and market control and then painted as “protecting you from the EVIL LEFT” or some stupid shit.

  • randon31415@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    So, if the ‘global elite’ are not the 1%, and as seen from this whole Gaza thing, they are not ‘the jews’ (which is what I though Republicans were always coyly referring to when they used that term), who the heck do the Republicans think the ‘Global Elite’ are?

    • m13@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Queer students, the vaccinated, and single moms who have to work 3 shitty jobs to pay rent. Those are the true global elite.

      • luciferofastora@lemmy.zip
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        8 months ago

        The real mental gumnastic exercise is understanding that they’re somehow both elite and weak beta cuck trash (add whatever other derisions you’d like).

        The enemy is both weak and strong.

    • SPRUNT@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Anyone who tries to benefit society without concern for profit.

      Actually, anyone who tries to do anything without concern for profit.

      If you’re not familiar with the Farengi from Star Trek, look them up. It matches Republicans pretty well.

    • Blackmist
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      8 months ago

      It’s still the Jews, I think.

      They just mean the ones that haven’t gone back to Israel where they clearly belong, unlike the nice normal white proper Americans, who definitely didn’t emigrate in from anywhere, and were here all along.

  • taanegl@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Maybe? I mean the big criticism is that it’s just highly processed food at the end of the day and that the process of production is what is the issue. This is of course an argument made by what you may call food purists, who’d rather you spend money on a proper blender than rely on big corporations to form Scop 2.0.

    But that’s not what Ronnie boy is thinking about. Oh no. He’s thinking about “owning the libs”, “showing them what for”, and what kind of cretinous, disingenuous bastard he can be. He would gladly invest in something like Scop 2.0 if it made a lot of money, AND performatively ban it in his state if it vaguely had an LGBTQ+ tinge to it.

    This is a careful reminder that some states banned solar panels out of spite… because people elect absolute troglodytes to represent them, and then have the balls to talk about “free markets”.

    GTFO here with your fake self. In fact, take the whole republican party with you.

    • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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      8 months ago

      I mean the big criticism is that it’s just highly processed food at the end of the day and that the process of production is what is the issue.

      Not really? I honestly have not heard anyone argue like this against lab grown meat. The whole point of it is to have more ethical meat that also does not destroy our basis of life through emissions.

      • toomanypancakes@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        There’s no ethical way to kill someone who’s done nothing to you and doesn’t want to die. There’s no such thing as ethical meat.

        Edit: I can’t read apparently

        • pezhore@lemmy.ml
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          8 months ago

          I think that’s the point of lab grown meat. If you can harvest the stem cells of a living animal and use those to grow full sides of beef (I’m vastly oversimplifying the process), then no animals have been killed.

          Bonus, emissions may be lower depending when comparing typical animal emissions vs the facility that produces the LGM.

          • toomanypancakes@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I apologize, it’s early. The term ethical meat just annoys me, and I didn’t thoroughly read what I was responding to. While I question the ethics around obtaining the stem cells in practice, I do agree lab grown meat is radically better than taking the flesh from animals.