DETROIT – The controversy surrounding the vice president of Campbell Soup Company has led a Michigan lawmaker to call again for lab-grown meat labeling on products.
State Rep. Jerry Neyer (R-Shepherd) is calling for Senate action on a plan that would require “clear labeling for products manufactured using lab-grown meat,” according to a release.
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Campbell’s Vice President Martin Bally was fired after another employee secretly recorded his rant about the product.
“We have s--t for f**king poor people. Who buys our s--t? I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely anymore. It’s not healthy now that I know what the f---‘s in it,” part of the recording said. “Bioengineered meat -- I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3-D printer.”
Campbell Soup Company has since denied that Bally’s comments.
“We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it, and the high-quality ingredients we use,” Campbell’s said in a statement. “The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate -- they are patently absurd. We use 100% real chicken in our soups. The chicken meat comes from long-trusted, USDA-approved U.S. suppliers and meets our high quality standards. All of our soups are made with No Antibiotics Ever chicken meat. Any claims to the contrary are completely false.”
Neyer said a requirement for lab-grown meat labeling would help in this sort of situation.
“The claims themselves aren’t the problem,” Neyer said. “This employee could very well be completely full of it. The problem is that without strict lab-grown meat labeling requirements like I’ve proposed, companies of any size could be cutting corners or putting bioengineered ingredients into our food without any transparency to the public. These requirements would protect consumers and businesses alike, to ensure everyone knows the rules and exactly what’s in their food.”
House Bill 4076 would require a “clear and obvious label” on all synthetically lab-grown meat products. It passed the House with “near-unanimous support” earlier this year, according to Neyer’s release.
“I think the folks over at Campbell’s would agree with me on this: Putting these lab-grown meat requirements into law would remove any doubt as to who is and is not using these ingredients in their products,” Neyer said. “Without labeling requirements, the public will never truly know if the chicken they’re buying is from a farm or a lab.”