THE ‘REAL MEAT’ ACT: Lawmakers Should Reject Efforts to Hold Back Plant-Based Alternatives
The meat industry (generally livestock producers) are going to state legislatures and Congress to push legislation that would protect them from this increased competition from plant-based alternatives.
DAREN BAKST: Veggie burgers are not made from cows. They are also nutritionally different than burgers made from cows. And yet, some in the meat industry are trying to assert Americans can’t grasp these and similar obvious points. As if Americans don’t understand that there’s a difference between meat from animals and plant-based alternatives to meat.
This issue is really about competition and the increased demand for plant-based alternatives to meat. So some in the meat industry (generally livestock producers) are going to state legislatures and Congress to push legislation that would protect them from this increased competition in the marketplace.
Last Congress, some legislators introduced legislation known as the Real MEAT Act. There was both a House and Senate version of the legislation, but both bills would require plant-based companies to label their products as “imitation” products. This legislation will likely reappear again this Congress.
The required use of “imitation,” a long-standing scheme to hurt food competitors, conveys that the product is inferior to the government-protected food, and it’s something that is unnatural… The “imitation” requirement is required regardless of how plant-based products are packaged and advertised. For example, if a plant-based alternative company prominently communicates that its product is plant-based and not meat, the product would still have to be labeled as “imitation.”
But that’s not all. The legislation isn’t really focused on the packaging or advertising. Instead, the legislation is focused on the product itself. According to the legislation, if the plant-based product “appears to be” a meat or beef product or has “aesthetic qualities” or “chemical characteristics” of meat or beef, then the term “imitation” must be placed immediately before or after the name of the food…
Further, the Real MEAT Act’s requirement to have “imitation” before or after the food name would lead to nonsensical results. For example, it would require a “veggie burger” to be called an “imitation veggie burger”… In other words, the legislation isn’t really concerned about the marketing practices of plant-based companies so much as trying to impose a scarlet letter on plant-based products to hurt them and to help the meat industry.
To the extent that misbranding and improper labeling are alleged concerns, these are issues that are supposed to focus on consumers and not on protecting one industry from competition from new competitors. From the consumer protection perspective, there’s no need for any legislation (state or federal) regarding plant-based products…
This fight, taken up primarily by livestock producers, is one that hurts consumers and is a prime example of cronyism… It shouldn’t be trying to use the force of government to hinder its competition from accurately marketing products. That’s exactly what the Real MEAT Act would do, as well as other legislative efforts across the country…
This issue is far more than just about meat and plant-based alternatives. It’s about allowing innovation in the food industry without the government hindering this innovation. It’s also about allowing consumers to freely choose what products they want to buy without the government trying to steer consumers to buy one product over another.
As the meat industry should be well aware of, the “food police” would like nothing more than to have the government discourage the consumption of meat. Some within the industry shouldn’t themselves be part of the food police by using the government to discourage the consumption of plant-based alternatives. SOURCE…
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