Under the Senate bill, alternative pork, poultry, or beef products would be required to include the word “imitation” on product labels

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a cattle rancher and member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, thinks alternative protein products deceive Americans by imitating real meat. To address this issue, she has reintroduced the Real MEAT Act ("Real Marketing Edible Artificials Truthfully") to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by adding a new section creating labeling requirements for imitation meat products. Imitation pork, poultry, and beef are all covered by the bill.

If passed, the bill would require imitation meat products' labels to bear the word "imitation" immediately before or after the product name in the same size and prominence and a statement that the product is not derived from or does not contain meat. If the product does not comply with these labeling requirements, it is considered misbranded and could be the object of lawsuits or FDA enforcement action. In addition, the bill gives the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to initiate an enforcement action if FDA fails to do so.

We will be keeping an eye on the progress of the Real MEAT Act. When Sen. Fischer first introduced the bill in 2019, the Senate never voted on it.

In similar news, a Florida state representative recently introduced a bill that would make it a criminal offense to sell, manufacture, or distribute cultivated meat. If passed, the bill would expose employees of sellers to a second-degree misdemeanor upon conviction, and restaurants, stores, and businesses could have their licenses revoked. Cultivated meat is not yet readily available in the market although the U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved two companies to sell it.