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Plant-Based Companies Fighting Labeling Law In Oklahoma

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Plant-based businesses are fighting the government over restrictions to what they can call their products in the market.

They say it violates their constitutional rights, being forced to put certain phrases on the packaging, or when they're prevented from using a certain word to describe their product.

There is already one lawsuit going on in Oklahoma where those companies are trying to fight back and block those restrictions, to a certain extent, from being imposed.

These product disclaimers, they argue, should be reserved for potentially harmful products and not on vegan burger packages etc. They say that the government is treating healthy plant-based food products like they are "cigarettes" with restrictions on packaging limitations and rules.

The law in question, the Oklahoma Meat Consumer Protection Act, was "shopped around" by the Cattlemen's Association.

Not only was it a top priority for the cattle group but one of their own members also happened to be one of the main government officials who helped to move the bill through the House.

The government wants to step into the exchange between those selling the products and those buying, because they think you will be too stupid to understand the label and what you are buying. Infringing again where they don't belong.

The legislation doesn't look like it is so much about safety or fraudulent products, as it is about competition and using the government to protect their share of the market.

The plan is to have the government force those plant-based companies to use words like meat substitute that are much more prominent on the packaging.

It is a move that has sparked interest from civil liberties advocates who are looking to defend the constitutional right of those plant-based companies to exercise freedom in crafting their business labels for their products. These labels for the most part already make it very obvious that they are plant-based alternatives and they shouldn't be forced to redesign their labels because competitors are worried about losing some business.

“Oklahoma already has a law prohibiting misleading labels,... But since the meat industry couldn’t use that law to thwart honest competition, they encouraged the Legislature to pass a new law. The First Amendment does not allow the government to compel speech just to protect special interest groups from competition.” - IJ Senior Attorney J. Pearson.

We will have to wait and see if the courts end up supporting freedom in this circumstance. There have also been legal challenges to these sorts of product packaging restrictions in places like Arkansas, Missouri, and Mississippi.

Pics: pixabay