The Minnesota Senate recently passed (04-04-2024) an agriculture bill. Fairly routine stuff but there was an amendment offered to legislate for the mandatory labeling of insect or lab based food substitutes. It's on
page 25 of the Senate record.
Senator Westrom moved to amend S.F. No. 4225 as follows:
Page 8, after line 29, insert:
"Sec. 18. [31.641] CELL-CULTURED PRODUCTS; INSECT PROTEIN.
Subdivision 1. Definitions.
(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
meanings given.
(b)
"Cell-cultured product" means a food product intended for human consumption and derived
by harvesting animal cells and artificially replicating those cells in a growth medium in a laboratory
to produce tissue.
(c) "Close proximity" means:
(1) immediately before or after the name of the product;
(2) in the line of the label immediately before or after the line containing the name of the product;
or
(3) within the same phrase or sentence containing the name of the product.
(d)
"Insect product" means a food product intended for human consumption and derived by
combining processed insects with food additives to approximate the texture, flavor, appearance, or
other aesthetic qualities or the chemical characteristics of any specific type of egg, egg product,
fish, meat, meat product, poultry, or poultry product.
Subd. 2.
Cell-cultured product labeling required. It is unlawful for any person to sell, offer
or expose for sale, or have in possession with intent to sell, a cell-cultured product at wholesale or
retail unless the product label bears,
in prominent type equal to or greater in size than the surrounding
type and in close proximity to the name of the product, one of the following:
(1) "cell-cultured";
(2) "lab-grown"; or
(3) a similar qualifying term or disclaimer approved by the commissioner of agriculture and
intended to clearly communicate to a consumer the contents of the product.
Subd. 3.
Insect product labeling required. It is unlawful for any person to sell, offer or expose
for sale, or have in possession with intent to sell, an insect product at wholesale or retail unless:
(1) the product label bears, in prominent type equal to or greater in size than the surrounding
type and in close proximity to the name of the product, the term insect protein or a similar qualifying
term or disclaimer approved by the commissioner of agriculture and
intended to clearly communicate
to a consumer that the product is an insect product; and
(2) the ingredient list includes both the common and scientific name of each insect incorporated
in the insect product.
Subd. 4.
Grocery stores and other retailers. It is unlawful for any person to sell, offer or
expose for sale, or have in possession with intent to sell, a cell-cultured product or insect product
at retail unless the products are labeled as required in subdivision 2 or 3.
Subd. 5.
Restaurants and similar establishments. It is unlawful for any person to sell, offer
or expose for sale, or have in possession with intent to sell, a cell-cultured product, an insect product,
a food containing a cell-cultured product, or a food containing an insect product at a restaurant or
other food service establishment unless these products are clearly and prominently identified as
such on the menu or bill of fare."
[98TH DAYJOURNAL OF THE SENATE13394
The result was that it was voted down and, so, labeling is not required for insect or laboratory derived ersatz food substitutes.
The roll was called, and there were yeas 33 and nays 34, as follows:
Those who voted in the affirmative were:
[REPUBLICANS]
...
Pursuant to Rule 40, Senator Jasinski cast the affirmative vote on behalf of the following Senators:
Duckworth and Miller.
Those who voted in the negative were:
[DEMOCRATS]
...
Pursuant to Rule 40, Senator Kunesh cast the negative vote on behalf of the following Senators:
Dziedzic and Port.
The motion did not prevail. So the amendment was not adopted
Not a very appetizing prospect. Why won't they label the food in grocery stores or in a restaurant with bug and test tube symbols? Does anyone know what our food safety rules are on this subject?
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