Upside Foods Starts Petition to Protest State Bans on Cultured Meats
In response to Florida’s ban and criminalization of cultured meats, and similar efforts in other states, Upside Foods has started an online petition to “Protect your right to choose what you eat. Tell politicians to stop policing your plate.”
The petition on Change.org -- a website that allows users to create and sign petitions to advance various social causes -- asks people to “Sign this petition to tell politicians that they should not control what you eat, and support food innovation for a brighter future.”
Upside Foods is one of two companies (Good Meat/Eat Just is the other) that a year ago received USDA and FDA approvals to sell cultured meat. Both are developing chicken products, although neither has launched its products yet, and they appear to be at least two years away. There are a dozen or more companies developing other meat products, some of which apparently are within the USDA/FDA approval process.
“Florida has banned cultivated meat, meat grown directly from real animal cells without the need to raise and slaughter billions of animals. Other states are considering similar measures,” the petition states. “This decision ignores food safety experts, takes away consumer food choice, and hinders American innovation in a sector America has historically led. These laws do not protect consumers; they are ‘food policing’ to protect entrenched interests.”
In signing the law, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called cultured meat part of a global conspiracy, "the World Economic Forum’s goal of forcing the world to eat lab-grown meat and insects.”
The petition points out cultivated meat has been deemed safe by the USDA and FDA. “We should trust their judgment more than inexperienced and uninformed politicians.” And the products are produced in a clean, controlled environment, which should reduce the risk of contamination by pathogens like salmonella and E. coli.
“Cultivated meat is a tool to help meet the world’s growing demand for meat. By 2050, we simply won't have enough land or resources to meet projected demand. To preserve our choices, we need new, humane, and sustainable ways to make food.
“This legislation hinders American innovation and stifles progress, suggesting that we should resist change instead of embracing new technologies to meet the needs of today and the future.”
You can see the petition here (https://www.change.org/p/protect-your-right-to-choose-what-you-eat-tell-politicians-to-stop-policing-your-plate).
