OVERREACH: Missouri Might Imprison You for False Meat Advertising.

The first statute of its kind in the United States, the law bans companies from describing meat substitutes as meat. These products, to be clear, are invariably marketed as alternatives to eating animals; no one is trying to pass them off as actual beef or pork or poultry.

Violations of the new law are punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or a year in prison. The Missouri Department of Agriculture can’t prosecute violators, but it can refer them to county prosecutors or the attorney general’s office.

The legislation’s foes include Tofurky, a company that uses tofu to make vegetarian meat alternatives. Yesterday, Tofurky filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri claiming the law violates the First Amendment. Tofurky’s co-plaintiffs include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, and the Good Food Institute, a nonprofit that advocates for plant- and lab-based food substitutes.

“Americans don’t like censorship, and they don’t like the government picking winners and losers in the marketplace,” Good Food Institute Executive Director Bruce Friedrich said in a statement. “We’re confident that the Court will overturn this anti-competitive and unconstitutional law.” In their lawsuit, the groups say no consumers have complained to the state about being tricked by meat alternatives.

If anyone did get tricked once into eating fake meat, they probably never got tricked a second time.