TRUTH IN LABELING - Next time you go grocery shopping, take a look at the food labeling and ask yourself: “Is the product really what it claims to be?” A new law passed by Louisiana lawmakers is to make sure a product is “truthfully labeled”and also to protect some state agricultural industries. Louisiana has the third largest rice industry in the country with more than 400,000 acres in production annually. But Louisiana farmers are having to compete with more foreign-grown rice varieties like jasmine and basmati, even rice alternatives are competing for store space. Michael Deliberto, agricultural economist at LSU explains to Baton Rouge Public Radio WRKF that popular rice alternatives like cauliflower rice pose a threat to an already struggling industry.
“I think any time the opportunity for shelf space is lost to other types of food products, it's a chance that the Louisiana industry is not getting to tell their story,"Deliberto said.
Louisiana joined more than a dozen states this year when it passed a "truth in labeling" bill, as a way to combat consumer confusion and protect the state’s agricultural industries. Many states were motivated to pass bills based on cell-cultured meat— in which meat products are laboratory-grown and not harvested from slaughtered animals. Louisiana’s law defines cell-cultured meat as well, but also beef, poultry, pork, sugar - even alligator and turtle. State lawmakers gave the Louisiana Department of Agriculture broad authority to craft the rules and regulations. Mike Strain, Commissioner of Agriculture, said enforcement will be as simple as adding an item to the checklist for state food inspectors.
"If you look under the USDA definitions of food products, there are more than 80 pages of specific definitions," Strain said. "But they never went in and defined meat or beef or pork or chicken because we always assumed that would be commonly understood."
State officials will have a little time to sort things out. The “Truth in Labeling law” takes effect October 1, 2020. As to whether or not the new laws will make things easier for consumers or add more confusion to product labeling and protect Louisiana rice farmers remains to be seen.
