New Missouri Law Dictates What Can be Called Meat

August 31, 2018

Food products that don’t come from livestock or poultry can’t be called meat, according to a Missouri law that took effect Tuesday.

Products that don’t quality as meat include soy-based and plant-based “meat,” and “clean” meat that’s produced in a lab, CNN reported.

Violators of the new law could be fined up to $1,000 and spend up to a year in jail.

A legal challenge against the law was filed in federal court by a number of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, the Good Food Institute, the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the company that produces Tofurky, CNN reported.

The groups say the law attempts to “stifle the growing grocery category of plant-based meat.”

“As more and more consumers are making the conscious choice to remove animals from their plates, Missouri is putting its thumb on the scale to unfairly benefit the meat industry and silence alternative producers,” Stephen Wells, executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, said in a statement, CNN reported.

“This law violates various constitutional principles, including free speech — which should be a concern for everyone, regardless of diet,” he said.

The law is “”all about marketing with integrity,” according to the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, which supports the law.

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