The National Pork Producers Council Tuesday called Impossible Foods’ naming convention for its plant-based products designed to mimic real pork a brazen violation of labeling law. Citing law that prohibits the use of words that redefine pork as consumers have known it for centuries, Dr. Dan Kovich, director of science and technology for the National Pork Producers Council, says, “What’s impossible is to make pork from plants.”
NPPC supports consumer choice and competitive markets on a level playing field. Accordingly, plant-based and cell-cultured products designed to mimic real meat must face the same stringent regulatory requirements as livestock agriculture, including truthful labeling standards, according to NPPC. Kovich calls the efforts by Impossible Foods, “a brazen attempt to circumvent decades of food labeling law and centuries of precedence. “NPPC maintains “plant-based alternative protein products cannot be called pork, and cultured products cannot be called pork without qualification making it clear how they were made.”
