Industry Insight: Mississippi Reverses Course on Plant-Based Meat Alternative Labeling

As we reported in July 2019, many states have enacted laws related to the labeling of meat alternative products and limiting their use of meat-like descriptors like burgers or hot dogs. One such law recently took effect in Mississippi. Mississippi's law, S.B. 2922, provided that a plant-based, insect-based, or cell-cultured food product "shall not be labeled as meat or a meat food product" and even imposed potential criminal sanctions for doing so. Just a few weeks after it went into effect, the state has promulgated draft regulations that appear to create a substantial carve-out for plant-based foods. The draft regulations are notable for what is included and omitted from this significant carve out. The Lawsuit According to media reports, a lawsuit filed the day Mississippi's law went into effect prompted the state to draw up its draft regulation. In that suit, a manufacturer of plant-based foods and a trade association for plant-based foods argued that S.B. 2922's provisions unconstitutionally infringed on the ability of manufacturers to engage in non-misleading speech. Among other things, plaintiffs claimed that reasonable consumers were not misled by the use of labels like "veggie burgers," "vegan bacon," or other similar descriptions. Further, plaintiffs asserted that such descriptions delivered useful and actionable information to consumers regarding how the foods at issue should be prepared and eaten. The Carve-Out for Plant-Based Foods and Its Implication The draft regulation provides that:

a plant-based food product will not be considered to be labeled as a "meat" or "meat food product" if one or more of the following terms, or a comparable qualifier, is prominently displayed on the front of the package: "meat free," "meatless," "plant-based," "veggie-based," "made from plants," "vegetarian," or "vegan."