In August of 2018, Missouri became the first state in the United States to regu­late the labeling of artificial meat, with a statute defining meat as something “derived from harvested production livestock or poultry.”1

Mislabeling non­livestock or poultry-derived meats would come with a fine or even jail time.² In a statement issued in November of 2018, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also approached this issue, proposing that “both the USDA and the FDA should jointly oversee the production of cell-cultured food products derived from livestock and poultry.”³

Both of these actions are still in development.

Various organizations filed a lawsuit against Missouri alleging that the law would mislead consumers and stifle competition from plant-based products.⁴ Missouri is reportedly in the process of settling this lawsuit, although “details appear scant.”⁵ The USDA and FDA, in turn, are still “actively refining the technical details of [their] framework.”⁶ This chapter will examine these legal actions in a broader food studies context. In doing so, it will explore how definitions have shaped and can continue to shape consumer expectations of what constitutes various categories of food themselves.

I.

More on the topic In August of 2018, Missouri became the first state in the United States to regu­late the labeling of artificial meat, with a statute defining meat as something “derived from harvested production livestock or poultry.”1:

1. A Brief History of Meat in the United States
2. Non-Livestock “Meat”
3. The Legal Meat of This Chapter
4. How Labels Shape “Meat”
5. The Legal Definition of Meat
6. Conventional agriculture in the United States relies heavily on fossil fuels.
7. Roman law in the United States
8. Postproduction greenhouse gas emissions, while significant, have not been comprehensively catalogued in the United States.20
9. Defining the state
10. During his inaugural address as the fortieth president of the United States of America in January 1980, Ronald Reagan spoke of the ‘economic ills we [Americans] suffer that have come upon us over several decades’
11. A variety of federal, state, and local agencies outside of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) support or regulate agricultural production.
12. Congress’ expressed purpose for supporting agricultural research and extension is not only to increase the productivity of agriculture,7 but also to “[maintain and enhance] the natural resource base on which rural America and the United States agricultural economy depend.”8
13. Domingo Rafael. Roman Law: An Introduction. Routledge,2018. — 252 p., 2018
14. New Food Labeling Policies Adopted in 2015
15. 1. Emissions From Fertilizer Production
16. Defining Characteristics of Civil Law Systems
17. 8.2 THE UNITED NATIONS, THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOVEREIGNTY
18. The Birth of a Hybrid: Production of Scientific Knowledge on Glucosamine
19. Philanthropic, the defining moments
20. Part III Regulatory Options for Foods Derived From Genome-Editing Technology and Novel Material