Comment on Federal judge weighing Florida law banning ‘fake’ meat

TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge said Monday he intends to rule quickly on a request to temporarily halt a new Florida law banning meat that state officials have lambasted as “fake.” Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker held a more than two-hour hearing on the request for a preliminary injunction filed by UPSIDE Foods, Inc., a California-based company that is challenging the constitutionality of the law banning the sale and manufacturing of cultivated meat. Walker indicated he would rule before an early November date that UPSIDE Foods attorney Paul Sherman said was needed for the company to prepare its poultry-based products for Miami Beach’s Art Basel event in December.