He doesn’t give a cluck.
A Florida lawmaker has introduced legislation that would prohibit the production of lab-grown meat, arguing that the trend is an “affront to nature,” according to a report.
Hoping to shield Sunshine State farmers from the burgeoning industry, Florida state Rep. Tyler Sirois wants to outlaw what is known as “cultivated” meat made from cultured animal cells.
Sirois told Politico that the the process is a politically motivated “affront to nature and creation” that needs to be put out to pasture.
“Farming and cattle are incredibly important industries to Florida,” Sirois said. “So I think this is a very relevant discussion for our state to have.”
If the bill passes, violators would be subject to a second-degree misdemeanor, and establishments caught selling the products could have their licenses yanked.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson told Politico that he backed the proposed law.
“Without this legislation, untested, potentially unsafe, and nearly unregulated laboratory produced meat could be made available in Florida,” he said.
Sirois said environmental, social and governance (ESG) imperatives being pushed by the left are behind the backlash against conventional farming.
“That’s the message that is being sent here is that the laboratory-produced product is superior to conventional farming and cattle ranching,” Sirois told Politico. “But to me my focus is on making sure number one that we are not acting here without understanding the consequences of manipulating this material in a laboratory — manipulating cells that are harvested from animals — and also making sure Floridians have a clear understanding of what is going on here.”
The USDA authorized the sale of lab-grown chicken at restaurants in June, and the products will eventually be made available at supermarkets.
The approvals came after the FDA determined that the progressive poultry safe to eat.
Backers of lab-grown meat argue that it pre-empts the need for the slaughter of live animals and reduces environmental impacts of animal waste and other processes associated with traditional farming.
Two California companies, Upside and Good Meat, are are at the forefront of the budding industry.
Using cells from living animals, lab-grown meat is developed inside large steel tanks. At Upside, the products emerge from the tanks in sheets, and are then shaped to form sausages and nuggets.
“Instead of all of that land and all of that water that’s used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way,” Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, operator of Good Meat, told the Associated Press.
But prominent nutritionist and food author Diana Rodgers told The Post that she’d rather dine on footwear than gorge on what she said were largely untested products.
“I’d rather eat my shoe than lab-grown meat,” she said in June. ““I have yet to see a life cycle assessment on the production of it. We don’t have any public data.”