The North Carolina House is advancing a bill that would mandate specific labeling for meat substitute products. (Photo: beef.ces.ncsu.edu/)
The North Carolina House Agriculture and Environment Committee approved on Wednesday a bill to regulate labels for meat alternatives, moving it to the House Rules Committee.
HB 134, “Prohibit Misbranding of Certain Food Products,” requires manufacturers to mark alternative protein products differently from meat.
Specifically, a label for a “manufactured-protein food product” with an “identifying meat term” would be required to have an “appropriate qualifying term” such as “cell-cultured,” “fake,” “lab-grown,” or “grown in a lab” in 20-point or greater font.
Meat products refer to foods made wholly or partially from meat — for example, cattle, sheep, swine, goats, bison, or deer — and excludes products that contain very small amounts of meat or have not traditionally been considered meat. Poultry products would be marketed separately.
“What we want is the consumer informed, and to the best of our ability, that’s what this bill does,” Rep. Jimmy Dixon (R-Duplin, Wayne), the primary sponsor and committee chair, said. “Properly label it.”
Rep. Sarah Crawford (D-Wake) asked about the 20-point font requirement.
Chris Saunders, a legislative analyst, clarified the label would need to be in either 20-point font or the size of the surrounding text, whichever is greater.
“Twenty-point font is about half an inch tall,” he said. “Most product labels are probably going to default to the surrounding text.”
Rep. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) mentioned how moving towards self-cultured meat is likely inevitable in the future.
She noted that it has the potential to reduce greenhouse emissions, cure hunger, and increase the humane treatment of animals and other creatures.
But with it being new, Butler described it as a “disruption” in the same way Uber served as a disruption to the transportation industry.
Butler said she isn’t opposed to accurately labeling food products, but she’s concerned about the bill’s implications.
“It feels like we are trying to stifle competition. It feels like we are trying to crush an industry before it gets started,” she said. “I’m concerned that we are creating a regulatory barrier here, trying to stifle innovation rather than accurately labeling.”
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