Courts uphold Missouri’s meat labeling in appeals challenge from Tofurky in plant-based meat alternatives.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld Missouri’s labeling law preventing the use of common meat terms for plant-based alternatives. The case, Turtle Island Foods, SPC v. State of Missouri, otherwise known as the fake meat labeling case, offers a win for livestock producers who sought the rule. But the fight isn’t over as the plant-based food industry defends its actions against other state labeling laws.
Turtle Island Foods, operating as Tofurky, filed suit to obtain a preliminary injunction against a 2018 Missouri state statute that prevents “misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry.” The District Court denied the request for preliminary injunction against the statute, and Turtle Island Food/Tofurky appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
The court notes: “Everyone agrees that Tofurky’s labels do not misrepresent products as meat. The complaint alleges that the product labels ‘clearly indicate the products are plant based, meatless, vegetarian, or vegan.’”