Governers in Iowa have passed legislation regulating the labelling of cell-based and alt-meat products.
Last week, Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law Bill SF 2391, known as the Iowa Meat Integrity Bill. The bill mandates specific labelling requirements for cultured meat and plant-based meat and egg products sold in the state.
Effective from 1 July, it will be law that food products that include cultured meat and plant-based meat alternatives need to be labelled with terms such as ‘fake,’ ‘lab-grown,’ ‘meatless,’ ‘imitation’ or ‘vegan.’
This legislation follows in the footsteps of Florida and Alabama – both states implemented total bans on cultivated meat earlier this month.
The bill outlines definitions and regulations for both meat and egg products, focusing on ‘cultivated-protein food products’ and ‘fabricated-egg products’ made from plants or other materials.
The bill includes the introduction of ‘identifying meat and egg terms’, encompassing words associated with traditional meat and egg products, such as beef, chicken, sausage, drumstick, omelette and mayonnaise.
The bill states that if the US Department of Agriculture approves these alternative products for federal nutrition programmes, Iowa will seek waivers to exclude them.
Additionally, food processing plants are prohibited from misbranding these products, and violations could result in civil penalties of up to $10,000. The bill states that food processing plant in violation of the bill will be “subject to a civil penalty of not more than $500, not to exceed $10,000 total for violations arising out of the same transaction or occurrence. Each day that a violation continues constitutes a separate offense...Civil penalties collected under this section shall be deposited in the general fund of the state.”
Governor Reynolds said: “This legislation prohibits companies from exploiting the trust consumers have with our livestock producers and misleading consumers into buying products they don’t want. This is about transparency. It’s about the common-sense idea that a product labelled chicken, beef or pork should actually come from an animal.”
Iowa State Representative Heather Hora, who is a pork producer, sponsored the bill. She told Iowa Public Radio: “This is but one thing we can do to help protect Iowa’s ag industry from the climate crazies that want to destroy everything we do right in the name of climate change”.
In the state of Iowa, there are more pigs than humans, with more than 50 million pigs compared to the state’s 3.2 million residents.
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