A federal judge has blocked enforcement of an Arkansas law restricting the terminology that can be used on meat analogue products.
The law in question, passed last July but never enforced due to immediate litigation, prevents the use of “meat-like” terms like sausage, chorizo and hot dogs on packaging or in advertising for plant-based products. Turtle Island Foods, doing business as The Tofurky Co., sued in federal court to overturn the law, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Animal Legal Defense Fund.
Federal judge Kristine Baker ruled Dec. 11 that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail and issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the law, pending a final ruling on its constitutionality. Baker’s order says that Tofurky products comply with federal food labeling and other regulations; that Tofurky can’t effectively market its products “without comparison to the conventional meat products with flavor profiles [its] products are designed to invoke”; and that remedies such as creating separate packaging for Arkansas would impose an undue burden.
The ACLU is participating in lawsuits seeking to overturn similar laws in several other states.
