Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 9/28/18


The National Farmers Union (NFU) has sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pressing its call for federal officials to formalize the definition of protein products that are not derived from livestock and currently are labeled as cell-cultured “meat.”

The group is asking FDA to develop a consistent “standard of identity” for “meat and related products to prevent mislabeling of food in the marketplace.” In the letter NFU President Roger Johnson said the common names given to meat and animal products are widely understood by consumers to be the tissue or flesh of animals that have been slaughtered for food. Therefore, the NFU “opposes labeling of foods produced using cell culture applications as 'meat’ and as related products such as 'beef,’ 'poultry’ and 'seafood,’ ” he wrote.

Johnson said the topic is a concern for the NFU because of “extreme consolidation in the beef, pork and poultry industries, which has diminished family farmers’ and ranchers’ market share.”

The letter to the FDA is the NFU’s second request calling for a U.S. government agency to clarify how to distinguish products derived from food animals from those created in a laboratory. Earlier this year, the NFU, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, U.S. Cattlemen’s Association and Nebraska Farm Bureau sought clarification on the issue from USDA. In May, Missouri lawmakers passed legislation prohibiting products not derived from harvested animals from being marketed as meat.

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