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from the slow-roasting-grills-of-justice dept.
A federal judge on Tuesday roasted Arkansas' law banning makers of meatless meat products from using words such as "burger," "sausage," "roast," and "meat" in their labeling.
[...] Judge Kristine Baker, of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, granted a preliminary injunction that prevents the state from enforcing the law while the legal case is ongoing. In her order, Judge Baker made clear that the law appears to violate the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment—as Tofurky argued. She determined that the state will likely lose the case.
[...] "The State argues that Tofurky's labels for its plant-based products are inherently misleading because they use the names and descriptors of traditional meat items but do not actually include the product they invoke, including terms like 'chorizo,' 'hot dogs,' 'sausage,' and 'ham roast,'" Judge Baker noted. Such misleading or false labels would not be protected commercial speech under the First Amendment, the state claimed.But Judge Baker essentially called that argument bologna.
[...] She went on to cite a ruling in a similar case that determined that "Under Plaintiffs' logic, a reasonable consumer might also believe that veggie bacon contains pork, that flourless chocolate cake contains flour, or that e-books are made out of paper.""That assumption is unwarranted," she went on. "The labels in the record evidence include ample terminology to indicate the vegan or vegetarian nature of the products."
[...] Meat and dairy industry groups have been increasingly working to try to limit the use of terms like "milk" and "meat" in other states and contexts as meatless and diary-free products continue to grow in popularity. Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Dakota have similar anti-veggie-meat labeling laws. In Wisconsin, lawmakers have considered banning non-dairy products from using the word "milk," such as beverages labeled almond milk.The latter issue led former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb to quip last year that "You know, an almond doesn't lactate." He said that the Food and Drug Administration is working on a guidance for the use of the term.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/judge-serves-up-sizzling-rebuke-of-arkansas-anti-veggie-meat-labeling-law/
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by Arik on Saturday December 14 2019, @05:56PM (2 children)
I can't agree with that, ridiculous. You're going to outlaw the primary meaning of the word meat?
Meat, earlier mēte; food, solid food as opposed to drink; or the nutritious part of a plant or animal as opposed to an inedible husk skin or pod containing it. Compare Gothic mats, OHG maz, modern Swedish mat. All carrying that same primary meaning. The meat of a nut, the meat of a gourd, the meat of an animal - all are meat.
The usage of meat specifically for animal meat rather than other kinds is a secondary, derived sense that only dates to the 14th century, when the phrase "flesh-meat" (meaning meat of an animal) became so common that it started being shortened to simply "meat" with the meaning being obvious from context.
I'm no fan of fake hamburgers but I'm also no fan of speech codes, even in theory - let alone in practice, where they wind up getting set by people that don't actually understand the language very well to begin with.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Booga1 on Saturday December 14 2019, @06:15PM
Alright. You've won a convert. While "meat" is also a vegetable term I've heard used I was never confused by the usage. Heck, artichoke "hearts" is also common. There's no beating heart organ in artichokes, yet it's also acceptable.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @08:05PM
Or worse those who do understand but have a vested interest in corrupting our common language for political or economic gain.