Missouri has already made it to label something like a veggie burger or tissue grown in a lab as 鈥渕eat.鈥� Now, other states are considering doing the same.
Wyoming legislators are scheduled to discuss a bill this week that would prohibit the word 鈥渕eat鈥� from appearing on a package that does not contain edible parts of what was previously a live animal.
Proponents of the bill say the concern isn鈥檛 so much veggie burgers -- it鈥檚 more about the kind of foods being developed by companies like Memphis Meats, Mosa Meat and Finless Foods, which are working on ways to create meatballs and fish fillets by growing animal cells in the laboratory. Such products aren鈥檛 for sale yet.
鈥淚t's not as far down the road as everybody thinks. It's evolving quite quickly, actually,鈥� says Wyoming , who sponsored .
In November federal agencies in figuring out how to regulate those foods.
鈥淢eat has a longstanding traditional meaning and we want to protect that, and think these other products should develop their own appropriate terminology,鈥� says Jim Magagna with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, which supports the bill.
Legislators in Tennessee, Virginia and Nebraska are also set to consider similar measures as Wyoming.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.
