WI Assembly wants 'truth in meat' labeling; must 'hamburgers' be all-pork?

WI GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos allowed a 'truth in meat' labeling bill to reach the floor where it passed last week.

 

A related measure promoted by the Wisconsin dairy industry aims to stop soy or almond products from being labeled "milk."

Set aside the fact that consumers with commonsense understand that you can't milk an almond.

Or that shrimp are 'jumbo' mostly in the eye of the buffet operator, and that there's no ham in a "hamburger," and take on faith that there's no Buffy or Bowser in a hot dog.

(Though I'm not sure how many people know that the ubiquitous "Ice Mountain" bottled water comes from groundwater in rather not-so-mountainous Michigan, but I digress).

Anyway, while we'll see if Wisconsin's State Senators fall in line, do Assembly members in the cheese and dairy state who believe their bills stand up for Wisconsin agriculture understand they are undermining it by validating claims by Italian cheesemakers that no one but producers in a specific region there should be allowed to say they are making Parmesan cheese? 

Parmesan from Wisconsin? How dairy you?! Italy wants to reclaim its cheese. 

How far down this road will Assembly Republicans take us?

Will Wisconsin producers or sellers be able to advertise and provide Peking duck, Kielbasa or Roquefort cheese not directly imported from their countries of origin?

Wouldn't the Legislature better spend its time and our money addressing actual dairy and rural issues, such as manure run-off, or over-pumping, and persistently polluted wells, or on public health issues raised by the so-called traditional American diet?