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NCBA outlines meat labeling priorities

 

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has outlined key principles they’d like USDA to use when regulating fake meat products.

The official comments were submitted to the Food Safety and Inspection Service in opposition to the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association’s petition to limit the use of the terms “meat” and “beef.” NCBA says they do not believe the petition will adequately provide meaningful protection for beef nomenclature.

NCBA’s director of governmental affairs Danielle Beck says while food companies are researching how to produce cell-cultured meat in a lab, she’s unsure it would be accepted by consumers.  “We’re seeing consumers want to move away from food processed—heavily processed, chemically processed foods—and really have a connection back to the farm. How consumers will respond to meat grown in a lab remains to be seen.”

NCBA wants USDA to request the Food and Drug Administration take appropriate and immediate enforcement action against improperly labeled imitation products. The group is also requesting USDA assert jurisdiction over foods cultured from livestock and poultry animals or their parts.