HELENA — A Montana lawmaker wants to make sure that meat produced in a laboratory isn’t labeled the same as meat from livestock and poultry.
Republican Rep. Alan Redfield of Livingston says he wants to make sure that Montana consumers know what they’re buying and where it comes from.
Lee Newspapers of Montana reports that his proposed Real Meat Act doesn’t ban the sale of cell-cultured meat products. But it would require that anything labeled “meat” must be “derived from the edible flesh of livestock or a livestock product.”
Other states have passed or are proposing similar laws. Missouri is now facing a lawsuit claiming its law is unconstitutional because it violates First Amendment rights to free speech.
Several people spoke in support of the bill Thursday, including people from the farming and ranching community.