Fake Meat Investments Dry Up
Published: Friday, April 11, 2025
The following is from Gene Copenhaver, president-elect of the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn.
Plant-based and lab-grown protein products enjoyed a moment in the sun several years ago, but it didn't take long for the free market to kick in and push these companies down a very steep decline. From Beyond Meat to SCiFiFoods, we have seen stock prices fall, employees laid off, plans for new facilities cancelled, and in some cases companies have gone out of business altogether. We know—and recent history has proven—that when given a choice, American families will choose real, wholesome beef. Our customers trust farmers and ranchers. They trust the nutrition, taste, and quality of the beef we produce. They trust the safe and responsible way you raise cattle and care for the land. And they don't want to turn their back on a delicious, proven winner in favor of untried, untested, ultra-processed goop that a Silicon Valley company cooked up in the vat of a bioreactor.
We are not afraid of competing with these plant-based and lab-grown imitators, because we are 100% confident in our product. But that competition has to be fair, and the federal government can't go putting their finger on the scale to tilt the free market in favor of dying fake meat companies. That's why NCBA has been working on regulations and legislation that require very clear labeling on these products. In one quick look, every American at the grocery store should be able to tell exactly which products come from a real cattle producer, and which products are manufactured in a lab. No consumer should ever be tricked into eating something they don't want to eat, and that's why labeling requirements are so important.
With all the attention on this issue in statehouses across the country this year, I get a lot of questions about whether NCBA supports a ban on imitation products. Telling Americans what they can and cannot buy at the grocery store does not align with NCBA's policy book, or our conservative values. And setting a precedent that the federal government can remove a product from the shelves completely is not wise for the cattle industry, when we have no idea who might be sitting in the White House or in Congress 10 years from now.
We're ready to compete with these products. We are definitely encouraged by the dried-up investments and other market signals that Americans are giving, saying "we don't have any interest in these fake products." Just as we have on other industry issues, we respect that our state affiliates may take different positions, and we support the idea that local leaders know what's best for their state. But above all, we're going to stay the course, keep following our grassroots policy, keep working to close loopholes, and work with the Trump administration to make sure that no fake products get to trade on beef's good name in the marketplace.
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