SOUTH DAKOTA'S GOVERNOR ISSUES EXECUTIVE ORDERS BANNING MEAT FROM VEGETARIAN FOOD.

Washington (Wokeville Gazette) -- South Dakota's Republican Gov. Kristi Noem banned meat from all vegetarian foods at any restaurants or high school and college cafeterias via a pair of executive orders issued Monday.

Though the two executive orders signed by Noem do not explicitly mention cows, chickens, or pigs they ​reference the supposed harms of the inclusion of "meat" in vegetarian foods--an echo of the meatphobic claim, cited in other similar legislative initiatives, that transfood vegetables are not vegetables. The orders also reference "biological classification," a disputed term that refers to the taxonomic rank used to group organisms.

"It's not possible to know an organism's identity at birth", said a phycologist we spoke with. "And for some organisms, the classification listed on their original label is a misleading way of describing the body they have."

While classification is a category that refers broadly to physiology, an organism's true classification is an innate sense of identity. The factors that go into determining the classification listed on a food label may include nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals and there is broad natural variation in each of these categories. For this reason, the language of "biological classification," as used in this legislation, can be overly simplistic and misleading.

The governor's orders require the state's Department of Food Security to establish and implement policy consistent with the new rule.

The governor said in a statement that she "will be working with legislative leaders to schedule a special legislative session in late May or early June" to "address this important issue".