Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill into law Wednesday that bans the “misbranding” of lab-grown and plant-based meat and egg alternatives.
Starting July 1, lab-grown and plant-based imitation meat and egg products sold in Iowa stores will have to be labeled with words like “fake,” “lab-grown,” “meatless,” “imitation,” or “vegan.”
The labeling requirements also apply to meat alternatives made with insect protein.
Reynolds signed the law at a farm in Ladora.
She said it’s about transparency and making sure consumers know what they’re getting.
“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 said.
The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing would have to inspect a food processing plant or grocery store for compliance if they receive a credible complaint about food products being misbranded as meat. Food processors could face civil penalties for not following the labeling rules.
Rep. Heather Hora, R-Washington, who is also a pork producer, managed the bill’s passage in the House. She said the bill protects farmers’ checkoff dollars that are used 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 law also prohibits school districts, community colleges and public universities in Iowa from purchasing lab-grown meat and any foods misbranded as meat or egg products.
It also requires the state to request a federal waiver to prohibit the use of federal food assistance to buy imitation egg products.
Democrats said that provision led most of them to oppose the bill after they initially supported an earlier version that didn’t restrict the purchase of egg alternatives.
During debate in the Senate last month, Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said he was proud to vote for the original version of the bill.
“Truth in labeling is certainly something that I strongly believe in for consumer protection,” he said. “But I’m also concerned with consumer nutrition. And there are some people who can’t eat eggs because of allergies but still need the nutritive content that might be supplied by alternative products.”
Capital gains tax break for livestock sales reinstated
At the farm, Reynolds also signed a law that reinstates a tax break for some Iowans who sell livestock.
The capital gains tax break ended in 2022 because of a tax bill passed by the Iowa Legislature in 2018. The law signed Wednesday puts it back into place, and it applies retroactively to the beginning of 2023.
Iowans who get at least half of their income from farming can qualify for the tax break for the sale of certain cattle, horses and breeding livestock.
Sen. Dawn Driscoll, R-Williamsburg, managed the bill’s passage in the Senate. She also raises cattle.
“We are reaffirming, again, our support for the livestock producers and all they do to bolster Iowa’s economy,” she said. “Our tax code should foster producer profitability and not diminish [it].”
The Legislative Services Agency estimated the tax exemption will cost the state $5.3 million in the next fiscal year and over $2 million per year in each of the following years.
