Week 10 has ended here at the State House. We have one month left, four weeks.

It is hard to believe we are already halfway through March! Next Tuesday, the 19th, will mark the first day of spring, and those of us that depend on farming for our livelihood have begun to watch the calendar and monitor the weather back home more closely as the days become longer and warmer.

Agriculture

On Tuesday, the House Agriculture Committee passed Senate File 2391 by a vote of 18-5. SF 2391 previously passed the Senate by a 49-0 vote on Feb. 27.. The measure provides accurate protein labeling definitions to enable Iowa consumers to know what they are putting on their plates and into their bodies when they purchase an ever-proliferating array of protein food sources. With many of the new products now being designed and produced through laboratory activities, the bill aims to provide Iowans with some clarity. The goals of the bill are to:

• Define meat products, cultivated-protein, insect-protein, and plant-protein products.

• Create fair labeling standards.

• Ensure transparency in the marketplace for consumers.

The bill additionally seeks to–

• Proscribe lab-grown proteins from being purchased through federal SNAP and WIC programs used by low-income Iowans.

• Curtail schools (K-12) from purchasing lab-grown protein for school breakfast/lunches.

• Restricts Regent Institutions and community colleges from purchasing lab-grown protein.

The bill is administered under the purview of the state Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL). The measure provides explicit, limited regulatory definitions for:

• Identifying meat terms

• Reflecting which animal species the meat comes from and what portion of meat it is

• Insect-protein

• Label

• Manufactured-protein food products

• Meat processing

• Meat product

• Plant protein food product

• Qualifying term

SF 2391 specifies inspection of a food processor for misbranded protein food products that will not be a part of routine inspection, but because of a credible claim. The measure further specifies that a food product is misbranded as ‘meat.’

• If it is labeled as such and offered for sale; and it contains manufactured protein food products.

o Unless the label contains a conspicuous and prominent qualifying term near the identifying meat term, then this bill provides that the sale of misbranded meat is prohibited in Iowa.

The legislation gives DIAL enforcement authority to issue stop orders preventing sale of misbranded meat products and can assess civil penalties for misbranding meat products of not more than $500 for a violation or a cumulative less than $10,000 for an ongoing violation. An entity charged with a violation may contest it under Chapter 17 provisions and the money collected is deposited into the state general fund.

After the subcommittee for this bill, I stated in my closing comments, in my opinion this bill did not go far enough. I stated if it were up to me, I would ban fake meat products in Iowa and make it illegal to transport them across the state of Iowa. My comments are in direct response to other states doing the same thing to Iowa products. California telling us how we must raise livestock, or it cannot be sold in their state. Massachusetts telling us if we do not raise livestock the right way, then it cannot be transported across their state.

Now in Denver, Colorado, they have a petition that will be on the ballot this November, making all packing plants inside the city limits of Denver close and move by 2026. This will impact any Iowan farmers who use the facilities in Denver. As the chair of the Iowa House Ag Committee, I will fight every day for my farmers and livestock producers.

Trust me when I say, I have ruffled more than a few feathers with some of my pro ag statements.

State Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City, represents Calhoun, Pocahontas and Sac counties plus western Webster County.