Meat consumption needs to be cut to save the planet? Follow The Money

[KaySeeks]

OK so when I follow the money on who is driving the pushback to cutting meat consumption, I find this:

Backed by the state’s pork producers and the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, the bill appears to be a product of meat lobbies spooked by the country’s growing taste for vegetarian substitutes, and its language parallels that of a House bill sponsored by Republican State Representative Jeff Knight, a former livestock auctioneer.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pavag9/the-meat-lobbys-bill-to-ban-the-phrase-fake-meat-shows-the-real-threat-of-plant-based-alternatives

Wait, a big US industry putting down big money to legislate something in their interest. Pshaw. Say it isn't so.    But not all the meatless industry is worried.

That’s the future that Brown sees for companies like his: as collaborators with, not adversaries of, big agriculture. He said that Beyond Meat is currently exploring ways to team with growers of cattle grazing land to see how some of that acreage can be used to produce the legumes that the company uses in its foods.

[ChrisSmolinski]

OK so when I follow the money on who is driving the pushback to cutting meat consumption, I find this:

Backed by the state’s pork producers and the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, the bill appears to be a product of meat lobbies spooked by the country’s growing taste for vegetarian substitutes, and its language parallels that of a House bill sponsored by Republican State Representative Jeff Knight, a former livestock auctioneer.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pavag9/the-meat-lobbys-bill-to-ban-the-phrase-fake-meat-shows-the-real-threat-of-plant-based-alternatives

Absolutely, it's wrong to use legislation to unfairly gain a competitive advantage or restrict trade.

A somewhat less sensational article on the legislation in question is here https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2018/08/28/iowa-cattlemens-association-missouri-law-fake-meat-label-usda-impossible-burger-tofurky/1123730002/

The law bans "misrepresenting” food as meat if it’s not made from livestock or poultry, and will cost violators up to $1,000 and a year in jail.

I'm not entirely opposed to requiring a product that claims to be meat to, well, actually be meat 

That said, the article goes on to note:

But Missouri has not heard complaints from people confused about the term "plant-based meats," the company that makes Tofurky argued in a injunction filed Monday in federal court. The filing pointed out that "meat" can also refer to parts of nuts and fruits.

Existing use of "meat" to refer to nut and fruits would certainly seem to open the door to it being used for other products as well. The only goal of such legislation should be to prevent consumers from being mislead - nothing more. As long as consumers are not mislead by the use of the word "meat" on the packaging, it should probably be allowed. Perhaps via sufficient disclaimers that the product is made from exclusively non animal sources and does not contain animal meat, maybe with the requirement that such notices are in a font no smaller than the largest font otherwise used on the package? Don't want any of that pesky fine print that no one can read.

There's already an existing minefield of regulations regarding food labeling and what can be called what, we don't need to unnecessarily add to it. Alton Brown of "Good Eat" (which is of course the best TV show about cooking since Julia Child) would routinely mock them as one of the three characters playing fictitious government food agents (all wearing dark sunglasses) who would appear to advise Alton of the intricate and sometime arcade rules regarding the ingredient(s) he was using in that episode. 

Which reminds me! Good Eats is back on the air after a several year hiatus. Season 15 premiered last night on Food TV. And yes, the government agents made an appearance. They lamented about their inability to regulate what could actually be called San Marzano Tomatoes 

[Josh]

 Alton Brown of "Good Eat" (which is of course the best TV show about cooking since Julia Child)




quoted for greater justice

[Traveling Wave]