By RACHEL LANE

DC Correspondent

Washington, DC — Last week was busy for the agriculture industry as multiple bills and referendums regarding agricultural labeling were introduced in Congress.

Farmers are being given part of the credit for the sudden action on labels. Lia Biondo, with the United States Cattlemen’s Association, USCA, said there was a social media campaign, #faircattlemarket. It was supposed to last for two weeks, but the hashtag continued to be used and brought attention to the labeling issue. At one point, the hashtag was being used once every 45 seconds.

“We’ve been working on these issues for years now,” Biondo said, but the farmers’ stories were the final push needed to get members of both Houses of Congress to act.

The move is not the final step in the process. She said more work needs to be done to get the bills passed in both houses and get the resolutions signed.

The Real Marketing Edible Artificial Truthfully Act, Real MEAT Act, is House Bill HR 4881 and was introduced last week. A summary is still in progress for the bill, but the current information states the bill will amend the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, FDC Act, to ensure consumers can make informed decisions in choosing between meat products.

Danielle Beck, senior director of government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said the marketplace is full of plant-based, alternative meats. The glut of products is making it confusing for consumers to figure out the nutritional value of the different options.

“With the advent of innovative technology, alternative meat burgers that bleed and sizzle like real meat are causing unnecessary confusion in the market place,” Beck said.

There are already laws in place, with the FDC Act, that require the alternative products to include the term “imitation” in the title of the product, Beck said, but the FDA is responsible for regulating the labeling and hasn’t taken any action on the issue.

The new act would define the term beef for labeling purposes, reinforce existing misbranding provisions to eliminate consumer confusion, and enhance the government’s ability to enforce the law by requiring the FDA to notify the USDA if an imitation meat product is misbranded. If the FDA does not take action within 30 days, the USDA can take action by issuing fines or recalling the products.

The problem has been that the FDA legislates plant-based products while the USDA legislates meat-based products. It created a loophole that the Real MEAT Act helps close, Beck said.

“The FDA overseas 80 percent of the grocery store. They don’t have the resources… the USDA can help,” she said.

She said there is room for the other protein sources in the market.

“Beef is willing to fight for the center of the plate with all the other proteins out there. There is a growing demand for high quality protein,” she said. With a growing global population, all areas of agriculture will have to work together.

“What we take offense to is the companies that want to end animal agriculture, disparage us, see us as competition, but, at the same time, trade on beef’s good name,” Beck said.

The dairy industry has been watching to bill’s introduction with interest. For 40 years, the dairy industry has been fighting the imitation products, to try to get the labeling correct, said Alan Bjerga, with the National Milk Producers Federation.

“With dairy, the products, in terms of their nutrient content, are very different than dairy, and they are using dairy terms… make consumers think they are more like dairy than they really are,” Bjerga said. The concern that consumers are buying an imitation product when they think they are buying something similar to dairy in nutrients is a concern not just in the dairy industry, but with US schools and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

While the FDC Act was passed in part to help maintain dairy labeling, it has only been in the last few years that the industry has seen a change, Bjerga said.

“At the NMPF, we are much more optimistic than we were a year and a half ago. Two years ago, people would have said ‘this is almond milk,’ but now, you see people saying ‘almond beverage’. They might be rolling their eyes, but they’re starting to see the point,” he said.

The FDA has had the rules in place for years, but hasn’t enforced the use of the word “imitation”, he said. The market for alternatives keeps growing and that is causing problems with the dairy industry and the meat industries.

“Veggie burgers aren’t a new thing, they’re just more prevalent,” he pointed out.

The check-off programs have invested in the terminology for dairy and meat products, he said. There is value to the names and terms used and the alternative products are benefiting from those terms while not being the same.

“Milk is unique. A glass of milk has four times the protein of an almond alternative,” he said. “Milk is distinct and consumers need to know that is distinct.”

Biondo said the Real MEAT Act needs a companion bill in the Senate and that is the next step with that bill, but the Senators are working on other agriculture products.

Last week, the US Beef Integrity Act, S.2744 was introduced in the Senate. This bill, if passed, would define US beef and the use of the “Product of the USA” label only to beef that is a product of an animal born, raised and slaughtered in the US.

The repeal of the Country of Origin Labeling, COOL, in 2015 left a loophole. Packers and retails can make slight changes to an imported product, such as repackaging it. If it happens with in the US, they can use the “Product of the USA” label, Biondo said. It is being used by packers to get cheaper beef from outside the US and relabel it with the US label, giving it a higher value.

The day after the beef integrity act was introduced, a COOL resolution was introduced in the senate.

The resolution won’t change anything legislatively, but it would require senators to indicate their support for COOL, Biondo said. 

This introduction of the bills for safer labeling is just starting, she added. Farmers still need to be involved, sharing stories about the importance of labeling and contacting representatives to show support for legislation.