Bipartisan bill would require restaurants offering maple syrup serve the real thing

Wisconsin already bans public eating places from serving another imitation food product.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

Breakfast purists in Wisconsin may have reason to celebrate. A proposed law would require restaurants and cafeterias listing maple syrup on menus to serve the real thing.

A bipartisan group of state legislators introduced a bill in March. It reads “a public eating place may not serve a food product identified as maple syrup unless the product is made entirely of maple syrup, as the term is defined in federal regulations.”

The cheaper substitute for real maple syrup is made primarily of flavored corn syrup.

The bill, sponsored by 18 Democrats and four Republicans from across the state, was referred to committees in the Assembly and Senate, both of which are controlled by the GOP majority.

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers tried and failed to pass similar legislation in the 2023-2024 legislative session.

Wisconsin ranks fourth among the states in maple syrup production, and in 2023, the state produced more than 400,000 gallons of it, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

State law already prohibits public eating places like restaurants and cafeterias from serving margarine as a butter substitute unless the customer specifically requests it.

Schoolchildren, prisoners and hospital patients cannot be served margarine in Wisconsin unless a doctor orders it. Violations can result in a penalty or even prison time, according to state law.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.