The Texas Meat and Imitation Food Act bill is designed to codify “meat” as derived solely from carcases of cows, chickens or other livestock, with no “lab-grown, cell cultured, insect or plant-based food products” included.
The law is intended to prohibit companies from misleading consumers by blocking the words “meat,” “beef,” “chicken,” “pork” or any “common variation” of them from being used on packaging, even if only to claim similar textures, flavors or cooking methods, unless the official definitions are met, according to the Dallas Morning News.
The bill will also keep companies that produce food from insects, plants or cell cultures, not slaughtered animals, from using the label “meat,” “pork,” “poultry” or “beef.”
It wouldn’t prevent the use of “burger” or other non-specific terms.