Montana Passes Real Meat Act

Montana’s House and Senate have both passed a bill dubbed the Real Meat Act to clarify what is hamburger and ground beef and provide a definition for “cell-cultured edible product.” “Cell-cultured edible product,” according to the legislation, is derived from muscle cells, fat cells, connective tissue, blood and other components produced via cell culture rather than from a whole slaughtered animal. Such a product must contain labeling indicating it is derived from those cells, tissues, blood or components, the bill states. Hamburger or ground beef mean ground fresh or frozen beef, or a combination of both, with or without the addition of suet, to which no water, binders or extenders are added. “The term includes only products entirely derived from the edible flesh of livestock or a livestock product,” and does not include cell-cultured edible products, according to the legislation. Meat is defined as “the edible flesh of livestock or poultry and includes livestock and poultry products.” Montana’s bill attempts to define a number of food- and drug-related terms, ranging from dietary supplements and food additives to what is meant by misbranded and adulterated. The bill is now headed to the governor’s desk for signature before it becomes law. The growing list of states pursuing such legal initiatives includes Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. Illinois also recently joined the movement, with a bill in the works that defines what a cell-cultured food product is and says that calling such a product meat or poultry is misbranding.