The National Chicken Council this week joined several of the nation’s largest livestock and poultry organizations in calling for regulatory oversight of cell cultured protein products to fall within the jurisdiction of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, not the Food & Drug Administration.
In a letter to President Trump, the groups said that these products “should be subject to the same comprehensive inspection system that governs other amenable meat and poultry products to ensure they are wholesome and safe for consumption, and to ensure they are labeled and marketed in a manner that provides a level playing field in the marketplace.”
The letter was signed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, American Sheep Industry Association, National Pork Producers Council, National Turkey Federation, North American Meat Institute, along with NCC.
“Undoubtedly, USDA’s exacting standards impose regulatory burdens on meat and poultry producers – as they should,” the letter continued. “However, if cell-cultured protein companies want the privilege of marketing their products as meat and poultry products to the American public, in order to ensure a fair and competitive marketplace, they should be happy to follow the same rules as everyone else. Consumers expect and deserve nothing less.”
A copy of the letter is available by clicking here.
