Title 3.2. Agriculture, Animal Care, and Food
Chapter 54. Slaughterhouses, Meat, and Dressed Poultry
§ 3.2-5402.1. Misbranded meat food product prohibited; civil penalty.
A. For the purposes of this section:
"Identifying meat term" means any word or phrase, in whole or in part, that states, indicates, suggests, or describes a meat food product or poultry product.
"Manufactured-protein food product" means a cultivated-protein food product, fungus-protein food product, insect-protein food product, plant-protein food product, or a protein food product that is not harvested directly from livestock or poultry.
B. Any food product that purports to be or is represented as a meat food product or poultry product shall be determined to be misbranded if such product (i) bears or contains a manufactured-protein food product; (ii) is offered for sale; and (iii) has a label that is part of or placed on the food product package or other container storing such food product that identifies the food as a meat food product or poultry product, without a conspicuous and prominent qualifying term in close proximity to an identifying meat term. For the purposes of this subsection, "qualifying term" includes the following words or phrases: cell-cultivated, cell-cultured, fake, grown in a lab, imitation, insect-based, lab-created, lab-grown, meat free, meatless, plant, plant-based, vegan, vegetable, veggie, or a comparable word or phrase. A meat food product or poultry product is not misbranded if the Department determines such meat food product or poultry product contains a trace amount of a manufactured-protein food product.
C. No person shall offer for sale or sell a food product that is misbranded pursuant to this section.
D. A person who offers for sale or sells a food product that is misbranded pursuant to this section is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed $500 for each misbranded food product and shall not be subject to the criminal penalties established in § 3.2-5415. The Board may promulgate regulations to establish an increasing civil penalty not to exceed $500 for first, second, and subsequent violations of this section. Such penalty shall be collected by the Commissioner and the proceeds shall be payable to the State Treasurer for remittance to the Department.
