The House Agriculture and Forestry Committee gave a favorable report Thursday to a bill aimed at protecting the integrity of foods labeled as “meat.”

HB 518 by Rep. Danny Crawford, R-Athens, would prevent cell-based animal protein grown in a laboratory from being labeled as meat or a meat product. The legislation also applies to poultry. 

“A food product that contains cultured animal tissue produced from animal cell cultures outside of the organism from which it is derived may not be labeled as meat or a meat food product,” the bill states. 

Earlier this year, delegates of the American Farm Bureau Federation approved policy opposing the use of traditional meat terms to describe cell-based protein and plant-based meat alternatives. 

HB 518 now goes to the full House for consideration.