Health Highlights: July 3, 2019

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Lawsuit Challenges Mississippi Law on Labeling of Meatless Products

A Mississippi law that bans terms such as “meatless meatballs” and “vegan bacon” on plant-based food labels violates free-speech rights, opponents allege in a federal lawsuit filed Monday.

The law states that “a plant-based or insect-based food product shall not be labeled as meat or a meat food product,” the Associated Press reported.

But the lawsuit says the law “serves only to create consumer confusion where none previously existed.”

The lawsuit was launched by the Plant Based Foods Association and Illinois-based Upton’s Naturals Co., which makes vegan products. They’re backed by the free-market advocacy group Institute for Justice, the AP reported.

Last year, a lawsuit was filed against a Missouri law that made it a misdemeanor to label plant-based products as meat. That legal challenge was launched by vegetarian food products maker Tofurky Co. and The Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that advocates for alternatives to meat.

In Louisiana, a law scheduled to take effect in October 2020 forbids vegetable products from being called meat, non-rice products from being called rice and sugar alternatives from being called sugar, the AP reported.

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