By O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa)
The Iowa House has added eggs to a bill about meat labeling. The bill started in the Iowa Senate and it outlines penalties for food processors that do not clearly label plant-based or lab-grown proteins as meat alternatives. House Republicans say the penalties should also apply to “fabricated eggs” marketed as egg substitutes.
Representative Norlin Mommsen, a Republican from DeWitt who raises cattle, said these products are trying to “ride the coattails” of farmers. “When you have a meat-like, egg-like (product), then you’re trying to live off the reputation of something else,” Mommsen said.
Representative Heather Hora, a Republican from Washington, said Iowa farmers who bring nutritious real meat and eggs to market deserve truthful and transparent labelling. “Billionaire investors as well as traditional meat producers have unjustly targeted the livestock industry in the name of climate change. As a farmer myself, I feel there is no greater sustainable industry in the world than what we do in agriculture,” Hora said. “It is past time we take a stand to defend our producers.”
House Democrats say they support Iowa farmers and accurate food labels, but they oppose a section House Republicans added to the bill. It says low income Iowans will not be able to use federal food assistance to buy egg substitutes if the USDA grants a waiver and lets Iowa enforce that policy.
“I think that goes beyond labeling,” Representative Ako Abdul-Samad, a Democrat from Des Moines, said. “That goes to dictating what poor people can eat.”
Experts say about 2% of all children are allergic to eggs, and some outgrow the allergy by adulthood. “Honesty in labeling is what we should be doing, but I don’t believe we should be taking something away from kids on SNAP just because it’s easier to pick on them,” Representative Sharon Steckman, a Democrat from Mason City, said. “If they’re allergic to eggs, then they should be able to get artificial eggs or whatever you call them.”
New federa; rules require any meat, poultry or eggs labeled as a “Product of the USA” to have come from animals born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.
