I’ve written how Impossible Foods has perfected a synthetic “blood”, a heme protein, so that their veggie hamburger will please the palate of almost any meat lover.  (Come on, you know those vegetarian hamburgers can’t match the taste of “the real thing”.)

But, making veggie burgers better is only part of the research that is progressing.  Here in the States, we have Just Inc. and Memphis Meats creating foods using stem cells.  The Netherlands has Mosa Meat.  And, these firms are backed by some pretty potent entities.  Mosa is being funded by the German pharmaceutical house, Merck.  (You can bet it will be sharing its biotechnology expertise to advance the cause. ) Some other firms have obtained funding from the largest private entity in the US, the food purveyor,  Cargill.  Still others have the backing of the meat giant, Tyson’s Foods.

These folks are called cultured-meat manufacturers- their products are not based upon vegetarian stocks, but animal cells.   The concept is a pretty straight-forward practice.  The entities start with poultry- or livestock-based animal stem cells.  These cells are then grown in fermentors (bioreactor tanks), where they are fed nutrients and oxygen, so they develop into adult skeletal cells.  These are then formed into meatballs, hamburgers, or chicken strips.

All this is not sitting well with our animal farmers (like the US Cattlemen’s Association).  Because it is their intention to disallow these stem cell meat producers to claim their product is “meat” or “beef”.

And, the Cattlemen have managed to convince the Missouri Senate (SB 977) that only harvested production livestock or poultry has the right to be called meat.  Which was signed into law by the besmirched governor, Eric Greitens.  (On the other hand, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association believe these products should be called beef.)

But, it’s not just the state of Missouri that is tackling this issues.  The FDA held a public hearing while I was traveling through Europe discussing the issue of cultured meat.  The hearing dealt with the health and safety of these products and whether the fact that the product is cultured have any other ramifications.

This sort of battle has been going on forever.  Back some 150 years ago, the development of margarine had dairy farmers all atwitter, as they are now demonstrating elevated blood pressures over soy and almond “milk”.

But, this time the rules really are different.  After all- margarine IS different from butter, soymilk is NOT milk.  But, stem cell meat is, indeed, beef!   The questions really are who gets to use the word meat and what special- if any- labeling is required when the meat comes from the lab and not from the feedlot.

Oh, yeah- one more question.  Should the FDA regulate the product or is this still under the jurisdiction of the USDA (Agriculture Department).  That choice immediately answers the question as to whether the product is beef or simply a food product.  Because the USDA regulates beef and the FDA regulates foods that are not beef or poultry.  (You do know that from a production point of view, stem cell derived beef is closer to a drug or food supplement.  It’s only once it’s fully grown and will be butchered that it will be closer to traditional beef.)

Both Cattlemen’s Associations want the USDA to regulate the product.  Which makes my head spin- since the USDA can only regulate beef and poultry.  And, that means despite their complaints, the US Cattlemen’s Association knows this stuff is really beef.

Which is pretty self-evident.  After all the USDA (via the Federal Meat Inspection Act, dating back to 1906) stipulates that “the part of the muscle of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats which is skeletal or which is found in the tongue, diaphragm, heart, or esophagus, with or without the accompanying and overlying fat, and the portions of bone (in bone-in product such as T-bone or porterhouse steak), skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels which normally accompany the muscle tissue and that are not separated from it in the process of dressing.”   Yup.  That means stem cell grown meat is beef.

Which is why the Cattlemen’s Association wants to create a NEW definition.  Specifically to exclude the cultured meat.  By adding the words “harvested in the traditional manner”.  I don’t think they will win that battle.

Which means this association will be even more ticked off if the cultured meat group gets away with the terminology they want to use- “clean meat”, which implies that their stuff is better for the environment.  (I’m guessing “cultured meat” will be the compromise position.)

And, then, at least for folks like me, there’s another problem.  These cultured meats (or clean meats) will NOT be cut from animals that have cleft feet and ruminants.  So, will our rabbis classify these products are meat, dairy, or pareve (neither meat nor dairy)?

I can see a whole bunch of angels dancing on the head of these pins!