Good Food Institute responds to ‘unnecessary’ draft bill on cultured meats

Non-profit organisation the Good Food Institute (GFI), which represents the interests of the plant-based and cell-cultured meat industry, has said it is ‘baffled’ by a particular section of a draft spending bill approved by the US House of Representatives that permits the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue new industry regulations for ‘clean’ meat.

Section 736 of the appropriations bill says: “For fiscal year 2018 and hereafter, the Secretary shall regulate products made from cells of amenable species of livestock, as defined in the Federal Meat Inspection Act, or poultry, as defined in the Poultry Products Inspection act, grown under controlled conditions for use as human food, and shall issue regulations prescribing  the type and frequency of inspection required for the manufacture and processing of such products, as well as other requirements necessary to prevent the adulteration and misbranding of these products.”

GFI policy director Jessica Almy responded to section 736, saying: “It makes no sense to mandate that an agency create new food regulations in a spending bill. That is absolutely the wrong venue for this kind of policymaking.

“It is wrong for Congress to use a spending bill to mandate that agencies create unnecessary new regulations and, even worse, to do so without any input from the small businesses that are being regulated. We have confirmed with the American clean meat companies that they were not consulted and agree with us that Congressional action is not required. ”

Cultured meat products are still in the development phase, with a growing number of firms aiming to introduce cultured meats over the next five years. One such company, Memphis Meats, recently responded to a petition by the US Cattleman’s Association, saying that ‘clean’ meat can fit into existing regulatory frameworks.

Memphis Meats CEO and co-founder Dr Uma Valeti mentioned last week that ‘clean’ meat production should be treated in the same manner as conventional meat production, as it ‘looks like meat, cooks like meat and tastes like meat’.

Almy added that the GFI agrees with the National Academy of Science’ conclusions that ‘clean’ meat production should be introduced swiftly and efficiently, without the need for input from Congress.

That said, the GFI will be working with government ‘to ensure that no statutory action’ is decided without the input of US plant-based and cell-cultured meat companies.