A plant-based foods company has filed a federal lawsuit over a new Louisiana law that calls for hefty fines on veggie products that use terms such as “burger” or “sausage” in their labels.
The law, which took effect Oct. 1 and was authored by Rep. Francis Thompson (D-Delhi), would impose fines of up to $500 a day on companies that violate the new labeling rules. The idea behind the law was to keep certain words traditionally used for meat items off meat alternatives in order to avoid confusing consumers.
But the Tofurky company is challenging the law by filing suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, arguing that the state law infringes on the First Amendment because it censors the firm’s commercial speech. The Louisiana lawsuit parallels other lawsuits that have been filed against similar laws in other states.
“We have two pending lawsuits against Arkansas and Missouri,” Nigel Barrella, regulatory counsel for the Good Food Institute, told the Louisiana Record in an email. “Louisiana’s law seems to be modeled closely on the Arkansas law.”
The litigation on behalf of Tofurky in Arkansas has advanced the position of advocates for plant-based meat items, according to Barrella.
“Last December, a federal judge enjoined Arkansas from enforcing the law against Tofurky because the law was likely unconstitutional (on commercial speech grounds), and the state of Arkansas recently agreed to make that injunction permanent,” he said.
The state of Arkansas could potentially appeal that decision, however, once a final order against the law is entered, according to Barrella.
In Missouri, the courts accepted the position that the state law did not apply to Tofurky, though Barrella said the institute continues to pursue litigation there to ensure plant-based food producers are fully protected in the future.
Though Rep. Thompson did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Tofurky’s president and CEO said the Louisiana lawsuit represents an illegal effort to protect the meat industry from competition from foods containing plant-based protein.
“Were we to label our products using terms other than what they are familiar with, like “burgers” or “sausages,” then those consumers aren’t going to have a clear idea of what they are buying,” Jamie Athos said in an email to the Record. “And that’s obviously the point here: to confuse customers away from the products they are now intentionally choosing more and more.”
The meat industry has suggested that plant-based foods companies should use terms like “veggie pucks” instead of “veggie burgers” – or “veggie tubes” instead of “veggie hot dogs,” according to an institute’s press release. That advice is aimed at making the non-meat products less desirable for consumers, the institute said.