Cell-Based Fairness
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO says when it comes to cell-based proteins, beef producers want market fairness …
WOODALL … “This is not necessarily about being afraid of cell-based protein, but it is making sure they have to follow the same rules we do. And that is why the announcement from USDA, that a certificate of inspection had been provided for this cell-based chicken product, was actually a win for us.”
NCBA CEO Colin Woodall says cell-based protein producers want to be under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration, not the Department of Agriculture …
WOODALL … “If you are a food manufacturer that has FDA inspection, you might be inspected once a week or maybe once a year based upon your risk assessment. That is unacceptable for somebody that is going to be in supposedly the meat or protein business because we have to be inspected every single day. So, we did lead a coalition several years ago that got the USDA inspection, so that’s a win.”
Now, Woodall says NCBA’s focus is making sure the label is clear to the consumer on what they are actually buying, looking at things such as lab-grown, cell-cultured and synthetic.
He says we have to be very careful that whatever we come up with doesn’t have any loopholes, like you find in many federal regulations, where they can circumvent it and come up with something like ‘slaughter-free beef.’
