Industry Wary of Alternatives Tries to Protect a Word: Meat

Packaged meat at a grocery store in Montreal. A national study says confusing and unnecessary best-by labels on food are a major cause of food waste in Canada. The Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz

LINCOLN, Neb.—More than four months after Missouri became the first U.S. state to regulate the term “meat” on product labels, Nebraska’s powerful farm groups are pushing for similar protection from veggie burgers, tofu dogs, and other items that look and taste like real meat.

Nebraska lawmakers will consider a bill this year defining meat as “any edible portion of any livestock or poultry, carcass, or part thereof” and excluding “lab-grown or insect or plant-based food products.” It would make it a crime to advertise or sell something “as meat that is not derived from poultry or livestock.”