Texas House Passes Bill to Prohibit Using ‘Meat’ to Describe Plant-Based Food

Impossible Pork, a new plant-based pork product by Impossible Foods, is served at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nev., on Jan. 9, 2020. David McNew/AFP via Getty Images

The Texas House of Representatives approved legislation on May 11 that would prohibit companies that produce imitation meat from using the terms “meat” or “beef” on food labels.

The bill, HB 316, states that “beef” and “pork” are edible portions from cattle and swine carcasses and that “meat,” “beef,” “pork,” and “poultry” cannot be used to label or advertise food products that are cell-cultured, plant-based, or insect-based. If they are, the Department of State Health Services will consider the products “misbranded.”