JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A vegetarian food-maker has asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction against a Missouri law making it a misdemeanor crime to promote products as “meat” that aren’t made from livestock or poultry.
The Oregon-based Tofurky Co. claims the Missouri law infringes on its constitutional free speech rights to use product labels such as “veggie burgers,” ”vegetarian ham roast” and “chorizo style sausage.”
The request for a preliminary injunction was filed late Tuesday as part of a federal lawsuit that originally was filed in August.
The other plaintiff in the case is The Good Food Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that advocates for alternatives to meat.
The Missouri law was passed earlier this year with support from the Missouri Farm Bureau and state pork and cattle associations.
The United States is readying more tariffs against China if there is no positive momentum following a meeting between President Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping. Bloomberg News reports the new round will be announced if the talks during the G20 summit between the two fails. The new round, proposed to be announced in early December, would apply to imports from China not previously targeted by U.S. tariffs. The U.S. has already imposed tariffs on $250 billion in trade with China. And, ten percent tariffs on $200 billion in imports that took effect in September are due to increase to 25 percent starting next year. Trump has also threatened tariffs on all the remaining goods imported from China to the United States, worth $505 billion last year. China has targeted U.S. agriculture throughout the trade war, which has decreased markets for U.S. commodities in China.
The Department of Agriculture is readying round-two of trade mitigation payments for farmers. The payments are the second half of the $12 billion program by the Trump administration to compensate farmers for losses stemming from Trump’s trade agenda. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said he doesn’t expect the payments “any later than December,” according to Politico. USDA previously used about $6.3 billion to facilitate the program that also includes commodity purchases and trade promotion. The second round of payments offers the same per-bushel or per-head amount to farmers as the first round. Corn growers will receive one cent per bushel, and soybean growers will receive $1.65 per bushel, on 50 percent of production. Hog producers will receive $8 per head and dairy farmers will receive 12 cents per hundredweight. Meanwhile, wheat producers will get 14 cents per bushel, sorghum growers 86 cents per bushel and cotton producers six cents per pound.
