The bill passed with a landslide vote of 125-22 and was supported by several agriculture industry groups including the Missouri Pork Association, Missouri Farm Bureau and the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association (MCA), the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
"This isn't a Missouri issue. This is about protecting the integrity of the products that farm and ranch families throughout the country work hard to raise each and every day," said MCA Executive Vice President Mike Deering in a news release. "I never imagined we would be fighting over what is and isn't meat. It seems silly. However, this is very real, and I cannot stress enough the importance of this issue.”
Missouri law defines meat as “any edible portion of livestock or poultry carcass or part thereof.” Supporters of the bill argued that plant-based or laboratory-grown products should not, according to that definition, be labeled as meat products. The proposed rule will prohibit “misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry.”
Deering said the legislation is not meant to oppose plant-based or laboratory-grown food products. "This legislation does not stifle technology, but it does ensure the integrity of our meat supply and reduces consumer confusion. We must ensure that those products do not mislead consumers into thinking those products are actually meat produced by farm and ranch families," Deering said. "The use of traditional nomenclature on alternative products is confusing to consumers and weakens the value of products derived from actual livestock production."
The bill has been sent to Gov. Eric Greitens to be signed into law. Once signed, Missouri will become the first state to pass any laws addressing the classification plant-based or laboratory-grown food products. 
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Carrie Veselka
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- Progressive Cattleman
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