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 comes after a long legal battle in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, where it was argued that the law placed undue burdens on plant-based food producers. The law, which went into effect in 2023, mandated that plant-based products must carry new labels or risk being labeled as “misbranded.”
The labels had to include terms like “meatless” or “lab-grown” in a font size equal to or larger than the product name. In August 2023, Tofurky, a plant-based meat company, along with the Plant Based Foods Association, filed a lawsuit challenging the law on First Amendment grounds.
Tofurky had a product with the term “plant-based” on the label in smaller print than the word “burger.” The Texas judge ruled that Tofurkey’s labeling was “neither deceptive nor linked to illegal activities,” and that the state law’s speech restrictions did not meet constitutional standards.
The judge emphasized that there was no dispute about the labeling being misleading. A consumer survey cited in the ruling showed that potential buyers were able to identify non-meat products 96% of the time.
Tofurky’s labels already clearly indicate that the products are “plant-based” and “vegan.” The court concluded that “Tofurky’s labels unmistakably show that its products are meat substitutes that are plant-based and vegan, and therefore not deceptive.”
“Rather than making it easier for consumers to purchase the foods they desire, Texas tried to manipulate the market in favor of animal products by imposing different regulations on plant-based meat alternatives, making it more difficult and expensive for these products to reach consumers in the state,” stated Michael Swistara, staff attorney at the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which filed a motion for summary judgment in the case.
As the top cattle-producing state in the U.S., Texas has taken a strong stance against meat-free options following pressure from ranchers who argue that plant-based alternatives could confuse consumers and pose competition challenges. Recently, Texas prohibited the sale of cultivated meat for a two-year period, leading to legal battles.
The judge’s decision that Texas’ regulations on plant-based labels were unconstitutional also sets a precedent for an ongoing lawsuit regarding another state law that requires food companies to include warning labels when using artificial dyes and additives. Food companies have contested this regulation on the basis of the First Amendment.