Southern West Virginia’s representative in Congress is looking to pass a bill requiring bison meat and buffalo meat to be separately labeled.
Congresswoman Carol Miller, who owns a bison farm in Huntingdon, is cosponsoring a bill with Yadira Caraveo, a representative from Colorado.
According to William Douglas Given, an owner of Mountain State Farm in Braxton County, it’s a problem already solved in a different industry.
“The pet food industry solved this problem,” Given said. They want to have the same standards on human food labeling so that the consumer can be sure that he’s getting a quality product.”
The difference between buffalo and bison meat is very important to bison farmers.
“Buffalo can mean anything from bison, which are found in North America, to buffalo like water, buffalo, Cape Buffalo, South American water Buffalo, which is not the quality product that bison is,” Given said. “The reason bison is a quality product is it’s lower in fat than chicken. It has more iron and B12 than any other red meat. And the only thing that has more alpha omega three fatty acids than bison is salmon. ”
The proposed law will likely not have a significant impact on Given, due to the size of his farm. However, he thinks that it will be helpful for farmers on a more national scale.
