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posted by martyb on Monday July 08 2019, @02:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the one-soy-based-hemispherical-cross-section-please dept.

A new law in Mississippi(1) makes it illegal to refer to plant and cell-culture based patties as 'burgers'.

The law would also prohibit the use of "burger" or "dog" in relation to vat-grown, cell-based food, which is made of meat. The statute reserves these appelations for foodstuffs derived from "slaughtered livestock."

The law has naturally been challenged by parties such as the Good Food Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union among others. In a nutshell

The contention on the meat industry side is:

Mike McCormick, president of the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation: "This bill will protect our cattle farmers from having to compete with products not harvested from an animal."

The contention on the other side is:

"There's nothing misleading about the name of a veggie burger, or vegan hot dog, or seitan bacon," Almy, a lawyer on the Missouri case, told me. "The packages clearly disclose that this is plant-based food that has the taste or texture of this familiar food."

A typical American would likely fall somewhere between these two views.

I fully understand (and at times enjoy) 'veggie burgers', however I had to look up 'seitan bacon' (FYI - a traditional Japanese wheat based food that is meat-like) and would not have known what it was at a glance (does super-seitan bacon go to 9000 calories?)

So where do patrons of Soylent Words-Related-to-Current-Happenings fall on this one?

(1) - Note TFA bounces between Missouri and Mississippi actions. There are similar labeling laws in both states. SB 627 in Missouri and SB 2922 in Mississippi.

Related: U.S. Cattlemen's Association Wants an Official Definition of "Meat"
Regulation Coming to Lab-Grown Meat


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  • (Score: 2) by boltronics on Monday July 08 2019, @03:04AM (5 children)

    by boltronics (580) on Monday July 08 2019, @03:04AM (#864303) Homepage Journal

    Yep, I've always known then as veggie burgers here is Australia. I don't see why that's confusing.

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  • (Score: 2, Redundant) by sgleysti on Monday July 08 2019, @03:25AM (1 child)

    by sgleysti (56) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 08 2019, @03:25AM (#864309)

    I don't see why that's confusing.

    It isn't confusing.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 08 2019, @04:11AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 08 2019, @04:11AM (#864326)

      Mississippi politicians are easily confused and easily bought.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 08 2019, @11:31AM (2 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 08 2019, @11:31AM (#864416)

    When I went to California (from the Deep South) for the first time in 1992, it was confusing for about 20 seconds, then I asked a California Native just to be sure before making a terrible mistake, and he confirmed the strangeness: no, it's not a burger with veggies on it...

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    • (Score: 2) by darkfeline on Tuesday July 09 2019, @03:28AM (1 child)

      by darkfeline (1030) on Tuesday July 09 2019, @03:28AM (#864843) Homepage

      And a vegan burger is not a burger made from the meat of vegans, alas.

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      • (Score: 2) by boltronics on Tuesday July 09 2019, @05:19AM

        by boltronics (580) on Tuesday July 09 2019, @05:19AM (#864865) Homepage Journal

        I purchased a burger that said it was vegan friendly. I don't care if it's friendly towards vegans - I'm concerned about it being friendly towards animals!

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