Tofurky is searing mad over Arkansas’ new food-labeling law that prevents makers of meatless meat products from using words such as “burger,” “sausage,” “roast,” “jerky,” and “meat” in their labeling.

Instead, veggie burgers and sausages will have to be served up with unappetizing descriptors like “savory plant-based protein.”

The law is Act 501, with the lengthy title “To Require Truth in Labeling of Agricultural Products that Are Edible by Humans,” which passed the Arkansas State Legislature back in March. It essentially states that only animal-based products can be called “meat” or be labeled with the names of common meat products. Foods can only bear meat-related terms if the product is “derived from harvested livestock, poultry, or cervids [deer family members],” according to the law.

Those who buck the law face fines of up to $1,000 per violation.

Act 501 was proposed by Rep. David Hillman (R), who is a rice farmer and past president of the Arkansas Farm Bureau. The law also states that the term “rice” can only be used for products that contain rice, putting products like cauliflower rice on the butcher block, too.

Hillman and other lawmakers claim that the law is necessary to protect consumers from being preyed upon in grocery-store aisles and “misled or confused” by alternative meat and dairy products. The lawmakers say they’re concerned that consumers may be duped into buying almond milk or tofu dogs while thinking they’re getting cow juice or processed-beef cylinders.

Bringing home the bacon

Tofurky and others say that’s bull. In reality, they say, the law is a ham-fisted attempt to protect the profits of meat and rice producers, who are threatened by the growing popularity of alternative products. Indeed, industry insiders have considered competition from plant-based meat substitutes a major challenge. Act 501 essentially gives the competition a raw deal, much like the dairy industry’s sour attempts to make “milk” off-limits to plant-based competitors.

On Monday, the Good Food Institute, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arkansas filed a sizzling lawsuit on Tofurky’s behalf to fight the law. Together, they argue that Act 501 violates the First Amendment by censoring the truthful speech of producers of meat alternatives—which are not in any way confusing to consumers.

“Not only is Arkansas’ latest law absurd and unnecessary, it’s also unconstitutional,” ACLU staff attorney Brian Hauss wrote in a blog this week.

Hauss argues that businesses often “rely on figurative language” to describe and sell products. He notes peanut butter as an example, which is not—as labeled—a cow’s milk-based butter product flavored with peanuts. Rather, it’s a nut product that spreads like butter.

In the lawsuit, Tofurky’s attorneys also note that the law is vague on the legality of meat-adjacent terms, like “deli slices” and plant-based “chik’n.”

Whatever verdict gets rendered in this case, Arkansas is not the only state that’s chewing the fat on the labels of meat substitutes. Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Dakota have also passed similar laws, some of which are also being challenged in court.

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1541095