Beef Industry Pushes for Ban of the Term 'Veggie Burger'

American consumers are idiots. At least, that's the message sent by a new law recently implemented by the Mississippi state government.

 
The new rule went into effect earlier this month and makes it illegal for companies that sell vegetable-based meat substitutes such as veggie burgers to label their products as “burgers” or use otherwise meat-like descriptors. This means that the words “hotdog” or “burger” can only be used for actual meat products.

This new law passed in the name of consumer protection: an effort to protect Mississippians from deceptive, fraudulent labeling of fake meat products. In reality, it's an unnecessary law that insults the intelligence of consumers and breeds corruption to protect big industry incumbents.