'Lab-grown' meat maker hosts Miami tasting party as Florida ban goes into effect

MIAMI (AP) — As Florida's ban on "lab-grown” meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a last hurrah — at least for now — with a cultivated meat-tasting party in Miami.

California-based Upside Foods hosted dozens of guests Thursday evening at a rooftop reception in the city's Wynwood neighborhood, known for its street art, breweries, nightclubs and trendy restaurants.

“This is delicious meat,” Upside Foods CEO and founder Uma Valeti said. “And we just fundamentally believe that people should have a choice to choose what they want to put on their plate.”

The U.S. approved the sale of what's now being called “cell-cultivated” or “cell-cultured” meat for the first time in June 2023, allowing Upside Foods and another California company, Good Meat, to sell cultivated chicken.

Earlier this year, Florida and Alabama banned the sale of cultivated meat and seafood, which is grown from animal cells. Other states and federal lawmakers also are looking to restrict it, arguing the product could hurt farmers and pose a safety risk to the public.

While Florida cattle ranchers joined Gov. Ron DeSantis when he signed the ban into law in May, Valeti said Florida officials never reached out to his company before passing the legislation.

“It’s pretty clear to us that the governor and the government have been misinformed,” Valeti said. “And all we’re asking for is a chance to have a direct conversation and say, ‘this is proven science, this is proven safety.’”

Cultivated products are grown in steel tanks using cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a storage bank. The cells are fed with special blends of water, sugar, fats and vitamins. Once they’ve grown, they’re formed into cutlets, nuggets and other shapes.

Chef Mika Leon, owner of Caja Caliente in Coral Gables, prepared the cultivated chicken for Thursday's event, which invited members of the South Florida public to get their first, and possibly last, taste of cultivated meat before Florida's ban begins Monday. Leon served chicken tostadas with avocado, chipotle crema and beet sprouts.

"When you cook it, it sizzles and cooks just like chicken, which was insane," Leon said. “And then when you go to eat it, it’s juicy.”

Reception guest Alexa Arteaga said she could imagine cultivated meat being a more ethical alternative.

“The texture itself is a little bit different, but the taste was really, really good,” Arteaga said. “Like way better than I was expecting.”

Another guest, Skyler Myers, agreed about the texture being different when eating a piece of meat by itself but said it just seemed like normal chicken when he ate the tostada.

“There’s no difference,” Myers said. “I mean, there’s no way you would ever know.”

Besides the ethical issues surrounding the killing of animals, Valeti said cultivated meat avoids many of the health and environmental problems created by the meat industry, such as deforestation, pollution and the spread of disease. He also noted that the meat his company produces is not coming from a lab but from a facility more closely resembling a brewery or a dairy processing plant.

“We don’t have any confined animals,” Valeti said. “We just have healthy animal cells that are growing in cultivators.”

The restrictions come despite cultivated meat and seafood still being too expensive to reach the market in a meaningful way. Two high-end U.S. restaurants briefly added the products to their menus, but it hasn't been available at any U.S. grocery stores. Companies have been working to bring down costs by scaling up production, but now they’re also trying to respond to bans with petitions and possible legal action.

Sean Edgett, Upside Foods chief legal officer, said the company went through a yearslong process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration before receiving approval. He said those federal regulations should supersede any state bans, which he believes are unconstitutional.

“We’re hopeful that if lawmakers can’t change their mind and turn things around back to an avenue of progress that the courts will step in and make that clear,” Edgett said.

Backers of the bans say they want to protect farmers and consumers from a product that only has been around for about a decade.

State Sen. Jay Collins, a Republican who sponsored the Florida bill, noted the legislation doesn’t ban research, just the manufacturing and sale of cultivated meat. Collins said safety was his primary motivator, but he also wants to protect Florida agriculture.

“Let’s not be in a rush to replace something,” Collins said earlier this year. “It’s a billion-dollar industry. We feed a ton of people across the country with our cattle, beef, pork, poultry and fish industries.”

Valeti isn't trying to replace any industry, just give people more options, he said.

“We want to have multiple choices that feed us,” Valeti said. “Some of those choices are conventional farming. Some of those choices are coming from plant-based foods. And cultivated meat is another solid choice."

Olga Leon places pieces of "lab-grown" atop guacamole as she serves up cultivated chicken tostadas at a pop-up tasting hosted by California-based producer Upside Foods, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer held a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

People stand outside the entrance to a pop-up tasting event for "lab-grown" meat produced by Upside Foods, as a protest truck parked out front displays a message advocating against cultivated meat, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of Upside Foods, speaks during a pop-up tasting of the company's "lab-grown" meat, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A security agent checks the bag of a guest as he arrives for a pop-up tasting of "lab-grown" meat produced by California-based Upside Foods, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer held a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

People mingle on a rooftop terrace during a pop-up tasting event for "lab-grown" meat produced by California-based Upside Foods, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

People mingle on a rooftop terrace during a pop-up tasting event for "lab-grown" meat produced by California-based Upside Foods, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Chef Mika Leon cooks cultivated chicken at a pop-up tasting for "lab-grown" meat produced by California-based Upside Foods, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Olga Leon garnishes tostadas made with "lab-grown" chicken at a pop-up tasting hosted by California-based producer Upside Foods, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer held a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Chef Mika Leon cooks cultivated chicken at a pop-up tasting for "lab-grown" meat produced by California-based Upside Foods, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Guests look on as Uma Valeti, CEO and founder of Upside Foods, speaks during a pop-up tasting of the company's "lab-grown" meat, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Reusable bags printed with a message advocating food freedom sit on a table at a pop-up tasting event for "lab-grown" meat produced by California-based Upside Foods, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Staff and guests stand at the entrance to a pop-up tasting event for "lab-grown" meat produced by Upside Foods, as a protest truck parked out front displays a message advocating against cultivated meat, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Miami. As Florida's ban on lab-grown meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a tasting party, serving up cultivated chicken tostadas to dozens of attendees on a rooftop in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's reset after his disastrous debate performance is looking more like a return to business as usual.

Even as his campaign works to quell Democratic anxiety and reassure spooked donors, Biden has been putting the focus on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump as a threat to the nation, and trying to get back to doing the job of president.

The president's schedule this week includes a briefing on extreme weather, a campaign reception, a Medal of Honor ceremony and the traditional July 4th White House barbecue. Then he's off for a weekend at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

Nothing out of the ordinary, it all telegraphed.

But Vice President Kamala Harris, in a Sunday night fundraiser, gave a nod to what she called “the elephant in the room.” The debate, she allowed, wasn't Biden's “finest hour.”

Still, "if we put aside the style points, there was a clear contrast,” she argued, going on to call out Trump as “a threat to our democracy” and “a liar.”

For all of the public efforts to shift the focus back to Trump, though, there have been private discussions on what more Biden could do to counteract what Americans saw during the debate, when he gave convoluted answers, trailed off at times, occasionally stared blankly and sounded raspy-voiced.

There has been talk about whether he should be seen more in public through town-hall style events or interviews and press conferences, which he has generally avoided during his time in office.

But most in his orbit are waiting on more substantial polling to come back in order to assess how bad the damage was before altering course in any substantial way. That's according to four Biden advisers who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Biden's team may not alter anything at all. Many think — or hope — the fraught moment will pass, particularly after Biden's family encouraged him to stay in the race and keep fighting during a huddle at Camp David on Sunday.

Campaign officials said Monday they had nothing to announce on new events. They said Biden would be campaigning as he has been, hitting battleground states as he has already been doing for months.

An ad released Monday was called “I Know” using clips from Biden's post-debate North Carolina rally, where he said: “When you get knocked down, you get back up.”

Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, put the focus on Trump in a call with reporters, saying, “When you do see President Biden out on the trail, he will be talking about the reasons why Americans should be scared of Donald Trump, as he has been for months.”

Even before the debate, the age of the 81-year-old Democratic president had been a liability with voters, and the prime-time faceoff put the issue front-and-center before perhaps the largest audience he will have in the four months until Election Day. CNN, which held the debate, said more than 51 million people watched.

“I think his age was baked in, to a large degree, and I know he can do better than he did on Thursday night. I expected to see better. I’m not sure other voters did,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a White House communications director during the Obama administration and a spokesperson for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

She added that, tactically, the campaign has responded by promoting Biden’s strong speech in North Carolina on Friday and by continuing to post strong fundraising numbers. Palmieri also said Biden might also want to sit for more interviews to continue to show that the debate was an anomaly.

“Their focus needs to be on getting him in front of voters that matter the most, and more interviews should be part of that. Don’t be like Trump in your own little universe,” she said. “For now, we’re early, but what they’re doing is working."

There's a sense that voters may now be watching Biden more closely for signs that show one way or another whether his debate debacle was a blip — whether he is, as he says, capable of doing the job.

Rebecca Katz, a strategist who worked with Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman’s winning campaign in 2022, saw potential parallels in Fetterman's comeback from a shaky debate performance after he had a stroke.

Fetterman's team highlighted especially bombastic comments his opponent made about abortion during that debate, and also had the candidate travel extensively afterward. He did lots of local television interviews to ensure voters in key markets saw him outside of clips from the debate.

“It’s not a perfect comparison but there is a blueprint for the Biden campaign,” Katz said. “You can have a rough debate night and still win.”

Biden expressed interest in doing at least one interview. At a Saturday fundraiser in East Hampton, New York, Biden said he had spoken with the broadcaster Howard Stern, who had interviewed him in April, where he answered open-ended questions mostly about his early years.

The president told the crowd that he was ready for another sit-down with Stern, saying, “I had a great time on his show. And I’m actually going to take a chance in going back.”

The Democratic National Committee and Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, kept up damage control, holding an evening finance call. Over the weekend, they held calls with donors and one with dozens of committee members across the country — some of the most influential members of the party. They offered a rosy assessment of the path forward and gave no opportunity for others on the call to ask questions.

Multiple committee members on the weekend call, most granted anonymity to talk about the private discussion, described feeling like they were being asked to ignore a serious predicament.

Campaign officials have said that there was no discussion “whatsoever” of Biden exiting the race nor of any staff shake-ups following the debate.

The window of opportunity for that is shrinking anyway. The Democratic National Committee has announced that it will use a virtual roll call to formally make him the nominee before the convention begins in Chicago on Aug. 19. But when that will happen and what it will look like is still unclear.

Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this report.

President Joe Biden, center right, and first lady Jill Biden, right, arrive on Marine One with granddaughters Natalie Biden, from left, and Finnegan Biden, at East Hampton Airport, Saturday, June 29, 2024, in East Hampton, N.Y. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)