YKWIA, in response to a 'King of the Hill' episode asserting that there was a law against defaming beef in Texas, had me check this out. And, yes, there is a 1995 food anti-defamation law designed to help growers from losing dollars because someone spreading false or malicious information about various forms of perishible food products. It was under this law that Oprah Winfrey and others were sued by a Texas cattlemen's group over a comment she made about never eating another burger in light of practices that are suspected to help spread Mad Cow Disease.
And it's not just Texas. There are others with similar laws, all designed to protect the businesses but which essentially impinge upon the free speech of the media, because even if the claims are not false or malicious, they're being sued under such laws. Most people would want to avoid that, right?
For more information, read this article:
http://www.organicanews.com/news/article.cfm?story_id=22
It's amazing what you find on television.
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