The South Dakota Stockgrowers Association is excited to announce that Governor Kristi Noem has signed Senate Bill 68, the “Fake Meat” bill.
SB 68 relies on existing statutory definitions of meat food products and meat by-products and makes it clear that a food product may not be labeled in a false, deceptive, or misleading manner that intentionally misrepresents the product as a meat food product as defined in § 39-5-6, a meat by-product as defined in § 39-5-6, or as poultry (as defined in the bill).
Lab-grown meats are moving closer to market introduction. The South Dakota Stockgrowers Association believes these alternative products need to be clearly delineated from actual meat and should not be allowed to benefit from the generations of hard work that have gone in to creating the current day market for actual meat food products. Consequently, The SDSGA is grateful to the legislature and to the Governor for stepping up and providing leadership on this issue for producers and consumers in South Dakota.
“The Fake Meat bill was legislation to which we dedicated a great deal of time this legislative session. Not only is this bill good for our agricultural producers, but it is also great for consumers, as it gives them the knowledge they need when making decisions at the grocery store for their families,” said Gary Deering, South Dakota Stockgrowers President.
“This was a fun bill to lobby. Soliciting sponsors for legislation can be a challenging task. SB 68 was that rare bill that was so popular legislators were coming to us and asking to sign on.” exclaimed Jeremiah M. Murphy, Stockgrowers’ lobbyist. “We received great support from legislators and from a broad spectrum of SD agriculture groups.
“My first Legislative session has been a great one for the Stockgrowers. Seeing this bill signed puts the icing on the cake.” said James Halverson, Stockgrowers’ Executive Director. “It has been fun and rewarding working on an idea like this. It started at the grass roots level, at a meeting of ours, and drew increasing support as it went through all of the legislative steps up to and including the governor’s signature. This truly goes to show what a difference organizations like the Stockgrowers can make,” added Halverson.
“We are grateful to the legislature and especially the bill’s prime sponsors, Sen. Art Rusch and Rep. Oren Lesmeister, for their leadership and hard work on this bill,” said Deering. “We are also grateful to Governor Noem. At the beginning of session she asked Jeremiah and I for the Stockgrowers’ priorities, and we told her the fake meat bill was at the top of our list. We appreciate her support in signing SB 68. She deserves a lot of credit for standing up for South Dakota producers.” added Deering.