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Sep 27, 2018

Missouri Criminalizes the Word "Meat": Civil Liability for the Mislabeling of Meat Substitutes as Meat

On August 28, 2018, with the passing of Senate Bill 627, Missouri criminalized the use of the word “meat” on labels of food products that do not come from an animal and became the first state to do so. The bill states that “[n]o person advertising, offering the sale or selling all or part of a carcass or food plan shall engage in any misleading or deceptive practices, including, but not limited to, any one or more of the following . . . misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested production livestock or poultry.” The prohibition has been codified in Missouri Revised Statutes § 265.494(7). Violation of the prohibition is punishable as a Class A misdemeanor. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 265.496. Missouri’s meat advertising law empowers the Department of Agriculture to inspect products and make referrals to the prosecutor in the county in which they are sold. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 265.497.  This poses risks not only under the newly enacted statute, but under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, as well.

It can be argued that the plain meaning of the statute cannot be reasonably construed to apply to non-animal products. The statute explicitly states that it applies to “person[s] advertising, offering the sale or selling all or part of a carcass or food plan.” The word “carcass” is not specifically defined in the statute. The ordinary meaning of “carcass” is the dead body of an animal. “Food plan” is “any plan offering meat for sale or the offering of such product in combination with each other or with any other food or nonfood product or service for a single price.” Mo. Rev. Stat. § 265.490(3). “Meat” means “any edible portion of livestock, poultry, or captive cervid carcass or part thereof.” Mo. Rev. Stat. § 265.300(7). Arguably, plant-based and lab grown meat substitute products do not constitute a “carcass” or “food plan”. However,it is widely believed that the amended statute will govern the marketing, sale, and offer of sale of meat substitute products that utilize the word “meat” on their packaging. 

The new law is being challenged by vegan brand Tofurky and food-advocacy group Good Food Institute (GFI) in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Missouri, in a case titled Turtle Island Foods v. Richardson. The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Animal Legal Defense Fund are also participating in the lawsuit. The petition alleges that § 265.494(7) is unconstitutional because it violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, the Dormant Commerce Clause, and the Due Process Clause.  Filed on August 27, 2018, the day before the law passed, the lawsuit seeks to halt enforcement of the statute until the constitutionality of the statute can be ruled upon by the court.

However, the threat of criminal prosecution is probably not imminent. On August 30, 2018, the Missouri Department of Agriculture (“MDA”) issued a memorandum providing guidance about when the MDA will make referrals to the county prosecutor and Attorney General. The memorandum states that products whose labels contain prominent statements on the front of the packaging immediately before or after the product name that the product is “plant based”, “veggie”, “lab grown”, “lab created” or something comparable, or prominent statements that the product is made from plants or grown in a lab, will not be referred for prosecution. The Department also states that it will refrain from making any referrals for prosecution until January 1, 2019 “[t]o allow for any necessary label changes to be made.” Thus, companies should move quickly to ensure that their product labels display the required language on the primary packaging.

An additional legal threat could come from meat-eating consumers seeking relief under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act (“MMPA”), Missouri’s consumer protection statute that has spawned a recent rising of food labeling litigation in Missouri. See our prior posts on food labeling litigation here, here, and here. The MMPA bars three types of conduct: deception, unfair practices, and concealment. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 407.020.1. The regulations that provide the definition of “unfair practice” for the statute define it as “any practice which . . . [o]ffends any public policy as it has been established by the . . . statutes or common law of this state” that “[p]resents a risk of, or causes, substantial injury to consumers.”  The Missouri Supreme Court has commented on the scope of the term “unfair practice”, describing it as “unrestricted, all-encompassing, and exceedingly broad. For better or for worse, the literal words cover every practice imagine able and every unfairness to whatever degree.”

Unlike a cause of action for fraud, a consumer does not need to plead that the producer intended to dupe the consumer into thinking the product is meat and that the consumer relied on the misrepresentation to state adequately an unfair practice claim under the MMPA.See the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Missouri's Order in Michael Johnson v. Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.  In addition to encompassing a broad range of merchandising practices, the appeal of the MMPA as a vehicle for consumer grievances is the availability of damages and attorney’s fees.  The statute also allows for class action lawsuits.

Food products such as meat substitutes are arguably “merchandise” within the scope of the Act.  Thus, a meat purchaser could bring a claim under the MMPA that a product that was mislabeled “meat” in violation of the new law is an unfair practice in violation of the MMPA. Moreover, compliance with the MDA’s labeling guidelines might not be enough to shield companies because the MMPA does not contain an exemption for conduct that complies with the MDA’s memorandum. Other jurisdictions have language in their consumer protection acts that exempt from violation labels that comply with state product labeling regulations. Currently, there is nothing similar in the MMPA that would bar an unfair practice claim brought against a meat substitute product whose label complied with the MDA’s guidelines as a matter of law.  Of course, a food industry supplier could argue that a label that meets the standard established by the MDA is by definition not “deceptive” or “unfair” but there is currently no case law in Missouri addressing the merits of this contention.