LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Florida's ban against growing meat in laboratories will remain in place for now after a federal appeals court affirmed a lower court's ruling denying a preliminary injunction against the law.

California-based Upside Foods Inc. sued the state of Florida in 2024 to challenge the ban put in place by SB 1084, alleging, among other things, that the law violated the U.S. Constitution.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Florida denied the company's motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of the ban, and earlier this week, that action was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

"The bottom line is that we agree with the district court," the 11th Circuit said in its opinion.

"Because Florida's ban on lab-grown meat does not amount to a regulation of Upside's ingredients, premises, facilities, or operations, it is not preempted by the PPIA."

Though the 11th Circuit returned the case to the district court, it did indicate its belief that the case will not be able to stand on its merits.

The appeals court conducted a full legal analysis and concluded Upside is unlikely to succeed on the merits.

The opinion could influence what the district court decides to do with the case.

The lawsuit brought five counts against the law, and the district court left in place the lawsuit's fifth count on the dormant Commerce Clause.

The dormant Commerce Clause is a legal doctrine that implies states cannot enact laws that unduly burden or discriminate against interstate commerce. It aims to prevent states from creating barriers to the free flow of goods and services across state lines.

Upside Foods has made the case that the Poultry Products Inspection Act preempts the Florida ban.

"Even though the ban could have a plausible downstream effect on Upside's premises, facilities, or onsite operations, the PPIA's clause 'with respect to' limits the clause to the preemption of laws with a direct relationship to a poultry processing premises, facilities, or operations," the court said about preemption.

"Because SB 1084 lacks such a direct relationship, it is not preempted by the PPIA's facilities provision."

The 11th Circuit did not remand the case with instructions on how the district court is to proceed. Now that Upside's appeal on a preliminary injunction has been resolved, the district court can move forward on the case on different aspects of the case that remain unresolved, namely, preemption claims.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law, touting it as protecting Florida farmers.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker said in an order on April 25, 2025, that dormant Commerce Clause issues in the case need to be examined more closely.

"It may ultimately be the case that Florida's cultivated-meat ban does not actually provide a benefit to Florida's in-state conventional meat or agricultural industries, or that cultivated meat does not compete with businesses in those industries," Walker wrote.

"Under the dormant Commerce Clause framework, the burden to prove the ban's validity would now fall on defendants and require them to demonstrate under 'rigorous scrutiny' that Florida's ban both 'serves a legitimate local purpose' and that this purpose could not be served by available nondiscriminatory means."

Florida, Alabama, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska and Texas have passed prohibitions on the manufacture, sale and distribution of cell-cultured meat.

In September 2024, Nebraska Republican Gov. Jim Pillen signed an executive order implementing rules against lab-grown or cell-cultured meat products to restrict state agencies from buying such products.

In its original complaint filed in August 2024, Upside Foods said that when the state of Florida enacted the law on May 1, 2024, it "did not cite concerns that cultivated meat is less healthy or safe" than conventional meat.

In 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and USDA approved the first lab-grown chicken products for sale.

In July 2023, Upside Foods became the first manufacturer of cultivated meat or poultry to sell its products in the U.S.

Before Florida's ban went into effect, according to the lawsuit, Upside Foods started a partnership with a Miami-based chef to distribute cultivated chicken products in the state.

Read more on DTN:

"Florida Lab-Meat Ban Case Continues,"

https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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