In this paper we design and evaluate a shuffled frog leaping algorithm that solves the set covering problem. The shuffled frog leaping algorithm is a novel metaheuristic inspired by natural memetics. It consists of an individual memetic evolution and a global memetic information exchange between a population of virtual frogs representing possible solutions of a problem at hand. The experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach which produces competitive results solving a portfolio of set covering problems from the OR-Library.