A new bill proposed by two US senators could potentially create regulation in the lab-grown meat industry to further protect the consumer from mislabelling.
The innovative creation of lab-grown or cultured meat could rule out some of the environmental and monetary costs of producing animal proteins, however, little regulation for these products exist in the US at this time.
A bipartisan bill sponsored by Senator Mike Enzi and co-sponsored Senator Jon Tester is designed to safeguard the consumer by enforcing accuracy in the labelling of food products created using animal cell-cultured technology.
This new bill will follow a 2019 formal agreement between the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS) and the FDA. The FSIS and FDA have announced they both agencies will share the monitoring process for cultured animal cells for human consumption.
“Americans shouldn’t have to guess what they are buying”
Enzi commented: “emerging technologies may reshape the food industry in the coming years…existing food safety laws were drafted long before these technologies were contemplated.
“Our legislation would create an up-to-date framework in law so agencies appropriately work together to ensure folks know what they are eating and that it is safe.
Tester highlighted that “Americans shouldn’t have to guess what they are buying at the grocery store checkout line,
“If cell-based meat is sold next to real Montana beef at the store, the labelling should be clear to consumers so that folks can make informed choices about what they’re feeding their families.”
For food products derived from livestock or poultry cells, the agreement – which this legislation would codify – charges FDA with overseeing the process of multiplying collected cells to make tissue and USDA with overseeing processing, packaging and labelling. For products not derived from livestock or poultry cells, FDA would oversee all phases of development and production.
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