Banning Cultivated Meats
Alternative proteins could transform the future of the food industry, delivering far superior animal welfare and far greater production efficiency than traditional farming. Bizarrely some European countries and now several US states are moving to ban the use of cultivated meats and restrict marketing of plant-based foods. At least in Florida, they are transparently saying it's due to the threat to the cattle industry.
Banning cultivated meat because it threatens the cattle industry is so idiotic it beggars’ belief. Will they next ban wind and solar because they threaten the oil industry?
The alternative protein industry, while it has products in the market already, is still in infancy. But it has already been proven safe to consume while having significantly lower environmental impacts. With future breakthroughs and scaling it will only get even further ahead of traditional protein sources.
I will give the meat industry credit for recognising the threat these new approaches pose. After all, if you have an emerging competitor which addresses all your weaknesses while still delivering all your benefits, you should be scared. But the extent to which they are going, with many regulators in the US and Europe having passed laws limiting how alternative milks or dairy replacements can be advertised, is a sign of extraordinary fear and weakness. In some instances, they are even banning the words ‘burger’ or ‘milk’ from being used by plant based products. Ironically, those policy makers supporting these bans on competition in the market claim to champion competitive free market regulations. So, while Governor DeSantis boasts of Florida’s number 1 ranking for entrepreneurship in the country, he acts to aggressively stifle entrepreneurship.
Such a wide strategy to limit the industry and erect barriers wherever possible will undoubtedly fail. Where it will succeed is ensuring the meat industry stays deluded that they don’t need to change. In the end a better product will win, and the meat industry will be left behind having missed their chance to change.
#AlternativeProtein #PlantBased #FoodInnovation
Published by Vox | 14 February 2024