A federal judge has denied the State of Texas’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Texas’s ban on the sale of cultivated meat. The lawsuit has been brought by public interest law firm the Institute for Justice, on behalf of Californian cultivated meat and seafood companies UPSIDE Foods and Wildtype.
US District Judge Alan Albright held that the plaintiffs’ dormant Commerce Clause claim may proceed. However, he denied the companies’ request for a preliminary injunction, meaning the ban remains in effect for now.
The case will now need to move into discovery and further litigation before the ban can be permanently overturned. The lawsuit was filed last September, after the ban came into effect.
“We’re grateful the court is allowing this case to move forward,” said Justin Kolbeck, co-founder and CEO of Wildtype. “Texans should be free to choose what they eat — and to decide for themselves whether they want cultivated meat on the menu.”
“Let people judge it with their own taste buds”
According to the lawsuit, the new ban is not about health and safety; instead, it is “unconstitutional economic protectionism” intended to thwart out-of-state competitors. The Institute for Justice points out that states cannot legally enact protectionist barriers that discriminate against interstate commerce.
The case will present evidence showing that Texas lawmakers and powerful industry interests were focused on keeping competition out and propping up conventional meat producers, in a type of economic favoritism forbidden by the Constitution.
“Texas is trying to use government power to pick winners and losers in the marketplace, favoring in-state agriculture to the detriment of innovative, out-of-state competitors,” said Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Paul Sherman. “The Constitution doesn’t allow states to wall off their markets just to protect politically powerful industries from out-of-state competition. Texans — not politicians — should decide what’s for dinner.”
“This is a safe, new way to produce real meat,” added Dr. Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of UPSIDE. “The government shouldn’t ban it just to shield entrenched interests from competition. We’re eager to bring our product to Texas and let people judge it with their own taste buds.”
