By Julie Tomascik
Editor

A bill that protects consumers from misleading claims about alternative meat products has passed the Texas Legislature and now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature.

The committee substitute for SB 664 by Sen. Charles Perry aims to ensure meat products are accurately labeled.

“Texas Farm Bureau is grateful for the Texas Legislature and its work this session on the issue of deceptive labeling of food products. Our organization appreciates the leadership of Sen. Perry and State Rep. Brad Buckley in addressing this important topic,” Texas Farm Bureau (TFB) President Russell Boening said.

The bill requires “analogue products,” which are food products made from processed plant products, insects or fungus with food additives to mimic meat, poultry or egg products, to have clear labels. The bill would require those products to be labeled with one of the following: “analogue; meatless; plant-based; made from plants, or a similar qualifying term.”

Confusion at the meat counter is abundant for all consumers. Labels and packaging for meat and alternative meat products are often similar and sometimes indistinguishable from each other.

In fact, one out of every five Texans are deceived by misleading meat substitute food product packaging, according to a statewide survey conducted by TFB and Texas Cattle Feeders Association in 2020.

The bill define beef, chicken and pork as “any edible portion of a formerly live and whole… carcass, not derived by synthetic or artificial means.”

Language in the bill defines meat as “any edible portion of a livestock carcass that does not contain lab-grown, cell cultured, insect or plant-based food products.” Livestock is limited to cattle, sheep, swine, goats and poultry.

The bill also addresses cell-cultured products, requiring the products to be labeled as either cell-cultured, lab grown or a similar qualifying term.

Truth in labeling is a priority issue for TFB this session, and the bill will benefit farmers, ranchers and consumers.

More information on TFB priority issues is available each week in the Austin Newsletter. To sign up for the Austin Newsletter, log in to MyTFB and update contact preferences using the menu on the left side of the screen.