France has just become the first European country to ban the use of the terms “steak”, “bacon” and “sausage” when referring to plant-based products that mimic these formats. This rule, which includes Decree No. 2022-947 and will come into force in October, will literally prevent “using the terminology of the sectors traditionally associated with meat and fish to designate products that do not belong to the animal kingdom and they are not comparable.
So the controversy is served. Especially now that the reaction of Nicholas Schweitzerco-founder and CEO of La Vie™ Foodswho wrote this on his LinkedIn profile shortly after the decree was passed: “You won’t see anything more delusional today”. The CEO of this French company that markets, among other products, vegan bacon has been reluctant that this new rule only applies to products made in France. “Vegetable fillets produced in Spain or Austria and marketed here? No problem. French vegetable bacon produced in the Vendée? Oh no, consumers could be confused!” Schweitzer pointed out wryly. Now in your company they should think of other names to market their products, but they are not the only ones.
The objective is to avoid confusion on the part of consumers and improve transparency
“What madness! And what a pity. The Netherlands, as a center of crop production in Europe, is likely to benefit from this,” he replied. Mirco I. Richardson of the company Pleese Foodsspecialized in vegan cheeses.
This ban has also not gone down well with the Observatoire national de l’alimentación végétale (ONAV), whose purpose is to defend the plant-based diet. He has expressed it this way on his website: “This decree places France in a conservative position going against European policy. It is part of a logic of protection of the economic interests of the meat sector”.
The french meat industry, for its part and as expected, has applauded the ruling. “This decree is an essential step in favor of the transparency of consumer information and for the preservation of our products and knowledge,” he said. Francois Guihardpresident of the National Interprofessional Association of Livestock and Meat (INTERBEV). And he added that “the protection of meat designations and their regulatory framework is a very important issue for the association.”
For the moment, in the rest of Europe the use of these terms has not been prohibited in vegetable products that imitate meat. However, plant-based dairy products are not allowed to reference their traditional namesakes on their packaging. Time will tell what measures the rest of the countries will take regarding the way of marketing these vegetable products.
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