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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday December 14 2019, @04:18PM   Printer-friendly
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/
Previous Stories:
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/12/04/1425220
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/07/07/1443201
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/02/26/2315236


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  • (Score: 1) by EEMac on Sunday December 15 2019, @05:25AM (1 child)

    by EEMac (6423) on Sunday December 15 2019, @05:25AM (#932305)

    Hey now, let's keep this civil.
    Your attempt to label them as a supposed "boomer type" tells me more about you than them and it doesn't add anything to the conversation.

    Since I can't find a way to send a private message, I'll say it here: that was very cool of you to do. Thank you.

  • (Score: 2) by Booga1 on Sunday December 15 2019, @04:25PM

    by Booga1 (6333) on Sunday December 15 2019, @04:25PM (#932402)

    Thanks. I thought your comments were informative. After all, I trust you're telling the truth with regards to your experiences, and your nephew's surprise burrito. Nobody likes to be served food that isn't what they wanted.
    Maybe the signs in the store were lacking. Maybe it was just unexpected due to ordering based on what picture looked tasty at the moment the order was placed. That is a certainly a common problem, especially with new products. I often order new or novel dishes since I want to find out if I like it or not. Most of the time it's a "one and done" deal if it doesn't suit me.