Should We Allow Lab Meat to be Called Meat?

By Jennifer Hill

The Food Safety and Inspection Service, or FSIS, is currently considering potential labeling requirements for lab meat, or as they more politely describe it, “meat products comprised of or containing cultured animal cells”. The comment period is open through October and is an opportunity for the beef industry to attempt some level of sway over how laboratory produced fake meat will be marketed to consumers.

  Labeling matters to consumers and producers alike, or at least that what’s R-Calf keeps telling us. Many consumers don’t have the time or desire to take more than a quick glance at the product they are purchasing. Ingredients are in tiny print and there’s always some grouchy Karen glaring and huffing at you for standing in her way for too long. Of course in a truly free market system the market would solve this issue. Consumers would learn what a product really is and share that information amongst each other, social media to the rescue! If a product label is misleading, consumers could potentially seek restitution from the company. But unfortunately we don’t live in a free market society. In our reality we rely on the government to help establish and enforce labeling laws while simultaneously protecting their crony Fortune 500 friends’ multinational conglomerations and the products they produce. If we want a shot in hell at competing, beef producers must participate in that process.

  I’ve given a lot of thought to various labeling options and there are plenty of good ideas out there. I personally prefer ‘Lab Grown Protein Product’ as the winning choice. It clearly communicates that this is produced in a laboratory rather than by a farmer or rancher, and it does not contain the word ‘meat’, a term that is becoming highly controversial. Proponents of lab meat claim that, because the cells are cultured from animals, the product should be considered biologically the same as animal meat and thus deserves the label. Of course this tends to be declared by the same people claiming there’s no biological difference between genders so their grasp on science is questionable.

 Several states have enacted laws prohibiting the lab product from being referred to as ‘meat’, however once the feds get their hands in the mix their decision will supersede state rules, unconstitutional as that may sound.

Historically American agriculture has dropped the ball on protecting our products. The dairy industry missed their chance to lock in the word ‘milk’, leaving room for all sorts of nonsense like almond, soy and oat milk, while beef failed to safeguard the term ‘burger’. Lately beef producers have spent so much time infighting over mandatory vs voluntary Product of USA labels that we are failing to sound the alarm and raise the troops in the fake meat labeling. Let’s focus on what constitutes meat for now. We can squabble about MCOOL versus VCOOL later.

Comments to FSIS about lab meat labeling can be submitted and viewed at https://www.regulations.gov/document/FSIS-2020-0036-0001