Industry group asks USDA to define ‘beef’

According to the Western Livestock Journal, the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) has petitioned the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to define what “beef” means, as there currently is no definition as to what constitutes a “beef” or “meat” product. “In light of the new market for synthetic products, new regulations should be adopted limiting the ‘beef’ and ‘meat’ labels to animals born, raised, harvested, and processed in the traditional way,” wrote the group in the petition.

Motivated by the growing investment and market share in alternative protein products, the group is asking the agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to add two definitions to the “Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book.” The first is that “beef” products only come from slaughtered bovine animals. The second is that “meat” only refers to “the tissue or flesh of animals that have been harvested in the traditional manner.”

“USCA is concerned with the recent introduction and development of alternative products that are being marketed or may be marketed as though they are ‘beef,’” the petition explained, citing potential consumer confusion and misbranding.

Western Livestock Journal article

Petition (pdf)