On a 58-29 vote, the House approves a bill that prohibits Louisiana food manufacturers from labeling a food cauliflower rice if it doesn’t contain rice. The legislation also prohibits a food being called a veggie meat patty, if it doesn’t contain meat. Crowley Representative John Stefanski is a co-author of the bill.
“All we are asking is that we call it what it really is, doesn’t stop you from selling it in this state, doesn’t say your anti-vegan or anti-food alternatives, it just simply says call it what it is,” said Stefanski.
Monroe Representative Katrina Jackson voted for the bill because she says the labeling is confusing.
“I think for our farmers and our agriculture producers work hard to put a quality product on the shelf and that people should not be confused by alternative products,” said Jackson.
Houma Representative Beryl Amedee was one of the more two dozen House members who voted against the bill. Amedee doesn’t see how consumers could be confused by a product called cauliflower rice and this legislation could limit food alternatives that consumers are looking for.
“With this bill passing, it will confuse labeling in such way that makes a lot of products unavailable to us or harder to access,” said Amedee.
The Senate still has to agree on changes made to the bill by the House.
