The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is launching a new public campaign focusing on “fake meat.” The new campaign will highlight critical questions about the production process involved in growing meat in a laboratory. The Fake Meat Facts campaign will bring light to many of the unknowns that the federal government must clarify before finalizing the regulatory framework for these new products.
“The federal government is moving in the right direction on lab-grown fake meat oversight, but new information raises more questions than answers,” says NCBA President Jennifer Houston. “The lack of scientific consensus surrounding cell-cultured protein products became crystal-clear to me when I participated in last year’s joint public meeting.”
She says NCBA will continue to push for increased transparency to ensure consumers know the facts about lab-grown fake meat production. It was last year that the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration announced a framework for regulating lab-grown fake meat. USDA will have primary oversight of food production and labeling while FDA has oversight of cell collection and cell growth. However, NCBA says there are still too many details that need to be worked out yet.