Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays talked with Executive Vice President Michael Kelsey of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association. Yesterday, they recalled OCA’s wins and losses of the 2025 Oklahoma legislative session. Today, they are discussing the proper labeling of fake meat and more.
A variety of bills concerning lab-grown meat were considered in the House and the Senate this year, some to ban it from the state and others to lawfully require it to be properly labeled.
According to Kelsey, OCA strongly supported the labelling bill for cell-cultured proteins. He said, “Our policy doesn’t support the government having the authority to ban certain foods. Whether we like it or not, this is a food. If you give the government the ability to ban food, that is a very slippery slope. While I certainly trust this legislature, I don’t know what the legislature in thirty years is going to be like – they may want to try to ban beef! We just prefer the labeling side. We were successful in that. We got that bill to the governor, and he signed that.”
With the bill’s passage into law, any cell-cultured proteins, including insect proteins, that are to be sold in Oklahoma must be properly labeled. Kelsey admitted that both biologically and chemically, the lab-grown proteins are propagated from animal muscle cells, which isn’t what most Oklahomans would call meat. He pointed to steak, hamburger, chicken tenders, pork chops, as examples of real meat because they were harvested directly from an animal.
“We just want to make sure the consumer is educated,” Kelsey clarified. “So, if they are using a meat term, steak, pork chop, chicken tender, or hamburger, they have to label it accurately.”
Many other state legislatures have moved to similar action, either banning lab-grown meats or requiring them to be labeled as such. “I think the reason for that is because we aren’t seeing much action out of Washington,” Kelsey noted. “That isn’t necessarily a criticism of Congress. We know that they are very busy. We believe the FDA already has the authority to do some of this. They are just really dragging their feet.”
Despite a few drawbacks during the 2025 legislative session, Kelsey feels that overall, cattlemen and women across the state are in good shape relative to their leadership at the state Capitol.
“There’s a good set of freshmen,” he said. “We’ve got good relationships in the legislature. I think we are seeing, overall, a long-term approach to governing.
He touted the successes of fending off some of the attacks on property rights and animal management, and many other things that were not talked about publicly that OCA has fought for. Bills currently dormant will be reawakened during the second legislative session in February. “It’s going to be interesting, though, because it is an election year, as to how that dynamic will work into it,” Kelsey pointed out. “All House members are up; half of the Senate will be up, and all of our constitutional offices will be up – Governor, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor, etc. That can add a different dynamic to a legislative session as well, so it will be interesting to see how all of that plays out.”
Early on, back in January, OCA endorsed Attorney General Gentner Drummond for Governor in 2026. Drummond remains a front leader in the race for governor by a large margin, according to Kelsey. “We’re about a year out from the Primary, here in June, so if he can hold that momentum and win that primary and then move right into the General…” he speculated hopefully. “Again, that legislative session can add a unique dynamic, in terms of the election season, so we’ll see how that works out.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today
