Dive Brief:
- 蒙大拿州，密西西比州和南达科他州是通过立法的三个最新州，以禁止非屠杀动物作为肉类的标签产品。尽管密西西比州和南达科他州的法案现在是法律，但蒙大拿州的法案仍在等待州长史蒂夫·布洛克（Steve Bullock）的签名according to Food Safety News。
- 密苏里州signed a similar bill into law去年，国家是立即上法庭by the Good Food Institute, Animal Legal Defense Fund, American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and plant-based brand Tofurky. The two parties are currently in settlement talks, which have been extended until May 1.
- Similar bills to limit the definition of "meat" are in consideration on the floor of legislatures in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming, Food Safety News says.
潜水见解：
与其等待在联邦法院对密苏里州诉讼的判决，认为该州的法律是违宪的，并将滥用“肉”一词定为刑事犯罪，而是通过立法通过了立法，以防止他们认为在边界内的标记错误。ACT强调了对传统用来描述动物肉的名词的使用的日益支持。
As more and more consumers become concerned with meat intake due to environmental and health reasons, competition from alternative meats is starting to make an impact in the livestock industry.According to HealthFocus data，有17％的美国消费者主要食用植物性饮食，而60％的消费者声称正在减少其对肉类产品的消费。
This evolving consumer mindset is making major financial waves as well. In 2016, totalplant-based meat sales topped $606 million。And from June 2017 to June 2018, retail sales of plant-based foods jumped up 20% to $3.3 billion,according to Nielsen data reported by Food Navigator。
随着肉类替代品变得越来越复杂，大型生产商和CPG公司已经投资于诸如超越汉堡和the Impossible Burgerinstead of fighting the trend. However, at a state level where producers are smaller and their livelihood stems directly from the sale of their animals, the rise of plant-based protein is a horse of a different color.
In South Dakota, agriculture is the state’s No. 1 industry.USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service估计南达科他州生产的牲畜价值在2017年为28亿美元，在全美排名全美排名第12，牲畜和家禽生产排名第12。蒙大拿州和密西西比州的牲畜和家禽销售也受到高度重视。他们分别在全国排名第27和第19位。
None of these bills ban the sale of plant-based meat, but their labeling requirements will definitely throw a monkey wrench into the mix for plant-based producers who align themselves with the meat industry as an opportunity to compete directly as another alternative.
在蒙大拿州，Real Meat Actis not so much concerned with plant-based or insect products. The bill is intended only toprevent cell-cultured products from being labeledas meat.密西西比法律goes farther andprohibits animal cultures, plants and insects从被标记为肉。South Dakota's lawsimilarly reserves the term "meat" for protein harvested from animal carcasses.
尽管如此，即使各州的压力越来越大，要阐明“肉”到底是什么，消费者似乎并没有任何普遍的困惑。实际上，包括超越汉堡和Good Catch Tuna自豪地吹嘘,他们摇来摇去m plants, boldly emblazoning the claim on their packaging.
However, with increasing competition from foreign imports and a2.5 billion-pound surplus of product, it’s no wonder that producers in these agricultural-dependent states are getting nervous at the thought of competition from plants. Nor are they the only industry to take a stance that plants cannot just be called something else after they have been manipulated in a lab to resemble commodities. There are similar skirmishes underway在“牛奶”一词上关于植物性饮料以及阿肯色州法律prohibiting anything that does not come from the grainto be called "rice."
时间将证明是否有更多州登上并通过了类似的法律，但是这个问题是否涉及国家舞台可能取决于密苏里案的裁决。联邦法院对此事的意见可能会引发一项运动，以要求全国范围内的语言要求一致。
