Litigation partner Tarak Anada and labor and employment associate Michael Foley recently prevailed in firm client Tofurky’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a recently enacted Louisiana food labeling law that went into effect on October 1, 2020. The law imposed fines of up to $500 per day for every marketing representation of plant-based meat products that use terms like “burger” and “sausage.” Under the law, plant-based meat products were prohibited from using those terms even when accompanied by clear modifiers like “vegan,” “veggie,” or “plant-based” on their labels.

Tofurky’s suit argued the Louisiana law violates Tofurky’s First Amendment right to free speech by improperly censoring truthful commercial speech. The lawsuit also noted there is no evidence that current labels mislead consumers, pointing out that Tofurky’s products all clearly indicate the products are plant-based, meatless, vegetarian, or vegan. In fact, studies show removing “meat” terminology from plant-based meat product labels would cause consumer confusion where none existed before.

The US District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana granted Tofurky’s motion for summary judgment that halts enforcement of the law in question favor of Tofurky, a plant-based food company.

The Court agreed that the law was an unconstitutional restriction of free speech under the First Amendment.