Giving Compass' Take:

• Lawmakers in certain states such as Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming and Virginia want to ban plant-based and cell-cultured meat products as being labeled "meat," stating that they do not come from animals therefore shouldn't be called such. 

• Considering research that the live-stock and meat industries are detrimental to our environment, how would these laws on labeling imitation meat products effect the industry as a whole? 

• To learn more about the importance and impact in living a meat-free lifestyle, click here. 

The future of meat is almost here, and lawmakers in cattle country aren’t happy about it. Stateline, a project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, reports that a handful of states are following in the footsteps of a recent Missouri law that prohibits the makers of plant-based meat, like the Beyond Burger, and cell-cultured meat, which is years away from market but already making waves in Washington, D.C., from labeling their products as though they came from an animal carcass—that is, calling them “meat.”

Deciding how to label a new food product, particularly one that acts as a substitute or alternative for a well-established product, results in knock-down, drag-out wars in the food industry. Typically, the fight is about the federal definition of the food, known as a standard of identity. One of the most famous cases involves margarine. More recently, dairy producers—reeling from a long, gradual, and undeniable decline in milk’s popularity—have supported a law that would stop almond and soy companies from using that word on their products. Enter the increasingly ontological conversation about meat. Is it from an animal? From a carcass? Or any protein you can sandwich between two buns?

Read the full article about the debate on labeling cell-cultured meat by Sam Bloch at The New Food Economy