Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law last week banning the “misbranding” of lab-grown and plant-based meat and egg alternatives.
The law will take effect July 1, impacting lab-grown and plant-based imitation meat and eggs in Iowa’s stores. The products will be required to be labeled with words such as “fake,” “lab-grown,” “meatless,” “immigration,” or “vegan.”
The requirements apply to meat alternatives sold with insect proteins.
“It’s about the common sense idea that a product that’s labeled chicken, beef, pork and so on should maybe actually come from — get this — an animal,” Reynolds told Radio Iowa.
Reynolds signed the bill in front of a large crowd at a farm near Ladora that raises hogs and cattle. State Sen. Dawn Driscoll, a Republican from Williamsburg and a cattle farmer, refers to it as a “meat integrity” law.
State Rep. Heather Hora (R), a pork producer herself, managed the bill’s passage in the House. She said the bill safeguards farmers’ checkoff dollars for marketing meat and eggs.
“This is but one thing we can do to help protect Iowa’s ag industry from the climate crazies that want to destroy everything we do right in the name of climate change,” Hora said.
The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing will be required to inspect a food processing plant or grocery store if they receive a credible complaint about food products being misbranded as meat.
Under the new law, food processors who do not comply with the labeling rules could face civil penalties from $500 up to $10,000 per offense. The law also prevents schools, colleges, and public universities in Iowa from purchasing lab-grown meat as well as food misbranded as meat or egg products.
Iowa is now the third state to pass legislation this month, following Alabama and Florida, placing regulations and restrictions on lab-grown meat.
Reynolds also signed a law reinstating a tax break for certain Iowans who sell livestock.
This capital gains tax break, which ended in 2022 due to a tax bill passed by the Iowa Legislature in 2018, is now reinstated and applies retroactively from the beginning of 2023.
Iowans who earn at least half of their income from farming can qualify for the tax break when selling certain cattle, horses, and breeding livestock.
“Farm families will save nearly $18 million by 2030,” Reynolds told the crowd.