A federal lawsuit says Mississippi is violating free-speech rights by banning makers of plant-based foods from using terms such as “meatless meatballs” and “vegan bacon.”
The lawsuit against Mississippi Republican Gov. Phil Bryant and the state’s Republican agriculture commissioner, Andy Gipson, was filed Monday by the Plant Based Foods Association and the Illinois-based Upton’s Naturals Co. , which makes vegan products and sells them in many states, including Mississippi. It was filed the same day Mississippi enacted a new law that declares “a plant-based or insect-based food product shall not be labeled as meat or a meat food product.”
“The ban serves only to create consumer confusion where none previously existed,” says the lawsuit, which is backed by Institute for Justice, a free-market advocacy group based in Virginia.
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