Texas Bill Bans ‘Meat’ and ‘Beef’ Labels On Plant-Based and Lab-Grown Meat
Lawmakers approve controversial bill that limits plant-based protein companies from using words like ‘meat’ on packaging, as analysts criticize the ruling as ‘unconstitutional’.
Credit: Beyond Meat
Texas lawmakers have passed a controversial bill that bans plant-based companies from using terms like “meat”, “beef”, “chicken”, and “pork” to describe their products.
Such terms are newly-defined in the bill to only apply to an "edible portion of a livestock carcass that does not contain lab-grown, cell cultured, insect, or plant-based food products”.
Under bill H.B. 316, which was passed by the Texas House of Representatives last week, plant-based protein companies could be banned from using terms like “chicken-style” or “like-beef” to describe and explain their products to consumers.
"Calling the burger 'plant-based meat,' combined with the ground beef appearance of the burger, lets home cooks know what to do with the burger when they unwrap it: cook it like they would ground beef," said Impossible Foods on the bill.
The much-anticipated lab-grown meat industry, also known as cell-based or cultured meat, will also be affected by the ruling, while popular current brands like Beyond Meat could even have legal trouble with their brand name.
“Label censorship laws are condescending to consumers and unconstitutional”, says Scott Weathers, senior policy specialist at the Good Food Institute, a non-profit organization that promotes the plant-based industry.
The ruling comes as consumers are increasingly choosing plant-based proteins as part of a rise in vegan, vegetarian, and flexitarian lifestyles, where almost one in four Americans are eating less meat than ever before for the sake of their health and the planet. And sales figures show that sales of plant-based food have grown 27 percent in the last year, with the market now worth over $7 billion.
The bill now goes to the Texas state senate.
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