Submission to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee - Definitions of Meat and Other Animal Products Inquiry

A submission to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee's Inquiry on Definitions of Meat and Other Animal Products. This submission is provided by a collection of academics working on food policy in Australia and internationally with a specific focus on public health and sustainability. Our submission contains the following: • An overview of the terminology regarding novel meat analogues • A summary of the regulatory regime for novel meat analogues with a focus on food descriptors • A review of research and regulatory agency perspectives on whether the labelling and marketing used by developers of novel meat analogues is misleading • An overview of the research on ultra-processed foods and on the optimal regulatory approaches to ultra-processed food • An overview of the reasons why Australia needs to transition towards more sustainable and ethical models of food production and consumption including the issues with novel meat analogues and existing animal agricultural models for achieving this transition Our key message is that the Inquiry is asking the wrong questions. It is focused on meat and dairy descriptors and, more broadly, on whether novel meat analogues undermine existing meat and dairy industries in Australia. This is essentially a concern of two different industries: the meat and dairy industry versus the novel meat analogue industry. We need broader inquiries on regulating ultra-processed foods and regulating for more sustainable, ethical and healthier animal production and consumption systems in Australia. On these grounds, our submission makes the following recommendations: • Recommendation 1: Expand focus from descriptors of “meat” and “dairy” • Recommendation 2: Support a wider inquiry into regulating ultra-processed foods in Australian rather than a focus on novel meat analogues • Recommendation 3: Contribute to food policy and law that focuses on planetary health, sustainability and ethical outcomes more broadly