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Louisiana law targeting plant-based meat struck down

April 3, 2022 - from Food Beverage Insider:

"A federal court has ruled that a food labeling law in the state of Louisiana is unconstitutional, in response to a 2020 lawsuit filed by Tofurky, a producer of plant-based meat products.

"Tofurky challenged a Louisiana law that took effect in 2020, the “Truth in Labeling of Food Products Act (Act),” which forbids representations of a food as meat, beef or pork, for example, when the food is not derived from such things as harvested beef, poultry and domesticated swine.

"In a March 28 order granting summary judgment to Tofurky, U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson agreed the law infringes on constitutionally-protected speech in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

"Those subject to the law faced fines of up to $500 daily for using terms such as “burger” and “sausage” to represent their plant-based meat products, according to Tofurky and the organizations that represented the producer in federal court—the Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Good Food Institute.

"The law barred plant-based meat products from using those terms even when their labels featured such modifiers as “vegan,” “veggie” or “plant-based,” the groups added.

"Jackson found the law was an infringement on protected commercial speech, based on a four-part test expressed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 1980 decision, Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Pub. Serv. Comm’n of N.Y.

"While Tofurky challenged the Act, the government official responsible for administering and enforcing it—the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) commissioner—had not brought an enforcement action against the plant-based meat producer for violating the food products labeling law, according to the judge’s summary judgment order.

"Nor had the LDAF received any complaints from consumers about Tofurky’s labels or, more generally, labels for plant-based meat products or cell cultured food products, Jackson observed."