Does Florida’s lab grown meat ban mean you can’t buy Impossible burgers anymore?

With the stroke of a pen, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has "saved" Florida's cows by banning lab-grown meat.

DeSantis signed SB 1084 into law at a Wauchula, Florida, press conference. The new law prohibits the manufacture and distribution of lab-grown meat in the Sunshine State.

While signing the bill, DeSantis called the concept a "threat" to Florida's agriculture before making fun of liberal elites who advocate for "fake meat" as a way to combat climate change.

So, where does Florida's lab-grown meat ban leave the likes of popular meat alternatives like Beyond and Impossible meat? Here's what to know.

Summary of Florida's new lab-grown meat ban

Florida's SB 1084 bill, which prohibits the manufacture and distribution of lab-grown meat in the state, is a whopping 81 pages that, despite targeting meat alternatives, spends a small amount of time addressing them.

In the bill, it refers to lab-grown meat as "human food made with cultured animal cells." It describes the process as the ability to take a small number of cells from living animals and grow them in a controlled environment to make food.

The new law outright prohibits the manufacture, sale, hold or offer for sale or distribution of cultivated meat throughout the state. That means that any meat alternative that cultivates meat from animal cells in a lab can no longer be sold in Florida. Plant-based alternatives like Impossible are safe.

Florida’s SB 1084 also tackles electric vehicles, palmetto berries, pest control licenses and more

Lab-grown meat isn't the only thing packed inside of SB 1084. Here is a summary of the bill:

• Preempts the regulation of electric vehicle charging stations to the state and prohibits local governmental entities from enacting or enforcing such regulations.

• Provides an expiration date of the pest control operator’s certificate and amends requirements for its renewal.

• Prohibits applicants from swearing or affirming a false statement on an application for a pest control license, prohibits cheating on an examination required for licensure, and grants the department rulemaking authority to establish penalties for violations.

• Authorizes a Class “K” instructor to allow a Class “G” licensee to qualify for up to two calibers of firearms in a four-hour firearm requalification class.

• Authorizes the department to appoint a tax collector to accept new, renewal, and replacement license applications on behalf of the department for licenses issued under ch. 493, F.S.

• Authorizes a tax collector appointed under s. 790.0625, F.S., to collect certain fees and provide certain services for concealed weapon or firearm licenses on behalf of the department.

• Revises certain information that charitable organizations, sponsors, professional fundraising consultants, and professional solicitors must provide to the department to include street addresses.

• Eliminates the requirement for the name and street address of each institution where banking or similar monetary transactions are done by the charitable organization or sponsor, on registration statements.

• Amends the contribution-based registration fee thresholds to remove an option related to contributions raised by non-compensated volunteers, members, officers, or permanent employees under $50,000 in the previous year.

• Amends the charitable organizations’ exemption from registration thresholds to refer to total contributions.

• Revises the information that must be displayed on certain collection receptacles to include street addresses.

• Provides that a person who solicits funds within a public transportation facility must obtain a written permit that includes street addresses and must be displayed prominently on the person’s badge or insignia.

• Prohibits and creates penalties for the manufacture for sale, sale, hold or offer for sale, or distribution of cultivated meat in this state and provides it is a violation to knowingly violate this section.

• Repeals the provision that requires the Weights and Measures Act from expiring on July 1, 2025.

• Revises the information that must be provided to the department on a motor vehicle repair shop registration application and provides that the registration fee must be calculated for each location.

• Increases the threshold value of repair work which requires motor vehicle repair shops to provide a customer with a written repair estimate from $100 to $150.

• Increases the department’s statutory authority to repair or build structures from $250,000 to $500,000.

• Changes the name of the Florida Agriculture Museum to the Florida Agriculture Legacy Learning Center, and makes conforming changes.

• Prohibits the willful destroying, harvesting, or selling of saw palmetto berries on private or public land without the written permission of the landowner, provides penalties for violations, and grants rulemaking authority to the department.

• Revises the definition of “hemp extract” to mean hemp containing more than trace amounts of a cannabinoid which is intended for ingestion or for inhalation but which does not contain controlled substances.

• Provides criminal penalties for trespassing on land classified as commercial agricultural property.

• Provides that a student’s participation in a 4-H or Future Farmers of America (FFA) activity is an excused absence from school.

The new law will go into effect on July 1.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Does Florida’s lab grown meat ban mean no more Impossible meat?