State Rep. Terry Goodin seeks Truth in Labeling law in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS – Hoosiers would know that the meat they eat and the milk they drink comes from farm animals rather than a lab under the provisions of legislation filed today by State Rep. Terry Goodin (D-Austin).

Goodin’s proposal, set for consideration in the 2019 session of the Indiana General Assembly, would bring “Truth in Labeling” laws to our state. It attempts to address growing concerns against recent trends that grow food through scientific engineering instead of naturally on farms.

“In recent years, we have seen a trend where scientists are taking DNA samples from cows and chickens, then using that DNA to grow meat in their labs,” Goodin said.

“The meats from these scientifically-created food are then being passed off in their labeling as if they are being harvested from live animals on a farm. I think that’s wrong and false advertising, and I think people have the right to know where their steaks, hamburgers and chicken are coming from.”

Goodin’s bill would prevent products from being labeled as being meat or poultry or as coming from the milk of a cow, goat, or other animal, when in fact the products contain tissue cultured in vitro from animal cells. In vitro animal products, sometimes referred to as “clean meat,” are made from stem cells harvested via biopsy from living livestock, which are then grown in a lab over a number of weeks. 

“I have no problem with scientists making meat in a petri dish, as creepy as that sounds,” Goodin said. “I just don’t like the idea of them trying to hoodwink people into thinking that it is a natural food fresh from a farm. I simply don’t want big business to have the right to tell the public that the meat they are eating is farm fresh when it has actually been grown in a lab.”