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13 Alleged Bizarre Food Laws In The United States
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May 19, 2025
Weird History Food is going to take a look at some of the strangest (alleged) food laws in the United States. Odd and outdated laws are nothing new in the United States and around the world. But when it comes to legal restrictions on food, even the most jaded of lawyers would find these weird American food laws eye-opening. After all, you can learn a lot about a place from what they try to legislate.
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Today, we're going to take a look at the truth behind the strangest food laws in the U.S
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It's widely believed that it's illegal to take a bite out of someone else's hamburger
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throughout the state of Oklahoma. There's no evidence this law ever existed
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Fans of The Simpsons might remember the classic episode, Lard of the Dance
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in which Homer quits his job to sell grease he steals from local restaurants
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The truth is, restaurant grease really is a hot commodity, as well as an environmental hazard
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That's why stealing $1,000 or more of grease is a felony in North Carolina
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and that law is completely real. Apparently, horse thieves used to stuff their pockets with ice cream
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to lure horses away from their stables. Consequently, many states have laws forbidding you from carrying ice cream in your pocket
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If that sounds too ridiculous to be true, that's because it isn't
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There's never been such a law in Kentucky or any other state. Sending someone a pizza they didn't order is a classic prank
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but we wouldn't try it in Louisiana. Why? Because if you send a pizza to someone's house without their knowledge
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you could be fined $500. But is it true? Once again, the answer is yes, sort of
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This off-sighted factoid is a loose interpretation of a real law. The law covers pizza deliveries
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but it isn't specifically about them. It's about sending anything to a person's house
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without their knowledge or permission. There's a law in Alabama that prohibits an individual
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from putting salt on railroad tracks. It's hard to imagine that this was ever really a problem
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but apparently it was so serious that violation of the rule is punishable by death But while at least one Alabama law firm cites this law as a factoid on their website they don say how when or why it was passed
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or where it can actually be found in the Alabama statutes and regulations
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According to popular legend, in 1939, Maine attempted to pass a regulation
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banning tomatoes from clam chowder until the end of time. Believe it or not, this story is actually true
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A state legislator named Cleveland Sleeper, who claimed tomatoes polluted clam chowder
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did in fact draft a bill forever banning them from the New England staple
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However, what often gets left out of the tale is that Sleeper was making a joke
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For example, his proposed punishment for violating the law was to make offenders dig up a barrel's
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worth of clams at high tide. Maryland allegedly went a little overboard and made it illegal to
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eat while swimming in the ocean. So is it true? Possibly. Maryland does have a criminal law against
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adding disease germs, bacteria, poison, or poisonous matter to water if the water supply
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is used or is usable for drinking or domestic purposes. It also has rules preventing the
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dumping of things like trash, garbage, oil, and other liquid pollutants. So it's entirely possible
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one of these laws might have been used to arrest someone for bringing food into the water
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One of the most frequently cited strange food laws is that it's illegal to substitute oleo or
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margarine for butter in the state of Wisconsin. That can't possibly be true, right? Well
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you'd better start believing it's not butter because this law is 100% real
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Because Wisconsin's economy relies so heavily on dairy, the legislature passed these laws to protect local businesses
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