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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: 2) by srobert on Saturday December 14 2019, @06:51PM (8 children)
While I agree that there should be some truth in labeling and advertising, I don't think terms like "almond milk" or "veggie burger" are intended to deceive the consumer. In the case of "almond milk" the label was intended to convey what the product was a substitute for. I don't think any reasonably intelligent person thinks it's a dairy product. We can't protect the consumers if they are idiots.
"Warning: Do not use this lawnmower to cut children's hair."
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Saturday December 14 2019, @07:26PM (4 children)
While I agree, when I read the nutrients panel I was dismayed that something that low in protein could be called milk. If they're going to be extremely low in protein, then they should be required to display the amount in large letters if they're going to call it milk.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @08:01PM
If people are concerned about protein content then they can read the label. That is why it exists.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 14 2019, @08:31PM
Milk of Magnesia
(Score: 2) by dry on Sunday December 15 2019, @04:09AM (1 child)
Latex milk such as a Dandelion exudes is low on protein I believe.
Seems the problem with Almond milk is that it is watered down, nut milk should have a minimum of water added.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Sunday December 15 2019, @05:07PM
Latex milk is also not normally considered a food.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 15 2019, @03:31AM (1 child)
They are exacly named that to deceive the consumer. They are named that so it can be "proved" that you don't need real meat and milk because they might be able to deceive you into eating the fake products.
Why on earth would they not name the products clearly?
(Score: 3, Informative) by dry on Sunday December 15 2019, @04:12AM
Perhaps you could get a time machine, go back to the 1300's and make sure milk only means mammal secretions and then go back further and make sure that meat means an animal product. These words had been around a long time before the marketers limited their meaning.
(Score: 2) by meustrus on Sunday December 15 2019, @10:08PM
Warning labels like "Do not use this lawnmower to cut children's hair" aren't there to protect children, they're there to protect corporations from liability. By putting it there, they can short-circuit any lawsuits before they turn into million dollar settlements to avoid billion dollar jury trials. Somebody that stupid probably has a bad enough case of Dunning-Kruger to think that warning doesn't apply to them anyway, assuming they even noticed the big red warning label to begin with.
If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?