Cows staring. Inset of Acheta Domesticus ©Matthias Lenke

[UPDATE: USCA clarifies position, click here for more details]

Remember when Oprah said something about beef and some beef association got ticked off and there was a big dust-up and lawsuit about it all?

Sounds like beef ranchers are gearing up for another fight. Although it is mainly aimed at the new laboratory grown “meat”, they also warn insect protein manufacturers as well…

When I was in the Coast Guard, this was called “A shot across the bow”.

“Meat is meat, not a science project,” the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association contends in its petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With that first shot over the bow, let the Great Meat Fight begin.The ranchers’ petition contends that the “fake meat” products from companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods grown in labs or derived from plants or insects do not meet the definition of meat and shouldn’t be labeled as such.

“We look forward to working with the [USDA] to rectify the misleading labeling of “beef” products that are made with plant or insect protein or grown in a petri dish,” USCA president Kenny Graner said in a statement following the petition.

Click here to read the full story “The first shots have been fired in a beef war over the proliferation of ‘fake meat’” by Matthew Martinez for the Sacramento Bee.