A federal judge struck down a Texas law requiring plant-based and cultivated meat companies to carry disclaimers that their products are not real meat, saying it violated the First Amendment.
The judgment follows a years-long lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas claiming the law created an undue burden on plant-based food makers. The law, which took effect in 2023, required plant-based products to carry new labels or risk being deemed "misbranded."
The labels had to include qualifiers like “meatless” or “lab-grown” in an equal or larger font size than the product name. In August 2023, plant-based meat company Tofurky filed the lawsuit, along with the Plant Based Foods Association, asking that the court reevaluate the measure because it violated the First Amendment.
Tofurky had a product with the phrase “plant-based” on the label that was smaller than the word “burger” on the packaging. The Texas judge ruled that Tofurkey’s labeling is “neither misleading nor related to unlawful activity,” and the state law's speech restriction “fails to pass constitutional muster.”
The judge added there is no dispute that the labeling is misleading. The ruling cited a consumer survey that found potential buyers were able to identify products that didn't contain meat 96% of the time.
Tofurky’s labels already contain large print that the products are “plant-based” and “vegan.” The court ruled that “Tofurky’s labels clearly indicate its products are meat substitutes that are plant-based and vegan and, thus, are not misleading.”
“Instead of making it easier for shoppers to purchase the food items they want, Texas attempted to manipulate the market in favor of animal products by applying a different set of rules for plant-based meat options, making it more challenging and costly for these foods to reach consumers in the state,” Michael Swistara, staff attorney at Animal Legal Defense Fund, which filed a motion for a summary judgment in the case, said in a statement.
Texas, the top cattle-producing state in the U.S., has clamped down on meat-free alternatives amid calls from ranchers who claim plant-based options can confuse consumers and present competition issues. Last year, Texas banned the sale of cultivated meat for two years in a move that also spurred lawsuits.
The judge's ruling that Texas' plant-based labels were unconstitutional also bodes well for an ongoing lawsuit around another state law requiring food companies to carry warning labels when they use artificial dyes and additives. Food companies have also challenged that measure on First Amendment grounds.
