Lab-grown meat is not meat, Missouri state rules

Apparently 'shopper confusion' is to blame for the new marketing regulation

What's the definition of "meat"? Once upon a time that would have been an easy enough question to answer, but the advent of meat-substitute products such as the Impossible Burger and the arrival of cultured meat -- aka lab-grown meat -- has given regulators in Missouri pause for thought. On Tuesday, it became the first state in the US to enact a law stating that the word "meat" cannot be used to sell anything that "is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry."

The law could see violators hit with a $1,000 fine and up to a year in prison. The driving force behind the ruling, apparently, is shopper confusion. Mike Deering, a spokesperson with The Missouri Cattlemen's Association, which fought for the law, said, "The big issue was marketing with integrity and ... consumers knowing what they're getting. There's so much unknown about this."