French meat substitutes marketing setback: Ban on terms like “bacon” and “steak”

23 Apr 2018 --- French politicians have banned meat-like terms from describing vegetarian and vegan food which means that words such as “steak” and “fillet” will only be used for products of animal origin. MP for La République En Marche party, Jean-Baptiste Moreau, initially proposed the ban claiming that using words and phrases such as “plant burgers” or “vegetarian sausage” were misleading to consumers.

And now fellow French MPs have agreed, which means terms like “vegan sausages,” “soya steaks,” and “Quorn fillets” are resigned to the past in France. It was an amendment to the agriculture bill and any company in the country found to contravene the ban faces a fine of up to €300,000 (US$367,676).

French food producers will no longer be able to use any term that is most commonly associated with meat, such as “burgers” or “sausages” if that product doesn’t contain any meat – even if the description makes this clear.

Moreau, a farmer and member of President Macron’s En Marche! party tweeted: “Adoption of my amendment to better inform the consumer about their diet. It is important to fight against false claims. Our products must be designated correctly: the terms cheese and steak will be reserved for products of animal origin.”

The ban on this kind of vocabulary will also apply to dairy alternatives.

Farmers have been critical of not just vegetable alternatives to meat products, like vegetarian sausages, but also dairy alternatives such as vegan cheese, reports the BBC.

The move in France comes after an example last year from the dairy industry. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that terms like milk, cream and butter should only be used for animal products and must not be used to describe plant-based foods.

The only exceptions were ice cream, coconut milk and almond milk.

The ruling was in a case which involved a German company that had produced plant-based products with names including “Soyatoo Tofu Butter” and “Veggie Cheese”. The court said customers could be misled into thinking Veggie Cheese contained animal products.

Now French MPs have voted to outlaw use of such vocabulary, claiming they mislead shoppers, food producers will be expected to dream up new ways to describe vegetarian, vegan and meat-free products and it could lead to some interesting results.

And the French ban could have broader ramifications and lead to others considering a similar move.

According to The Independent, Wendy Higgins, of Humane Society International, said: “It’s a shame that instead of embracing vegan and vegetarian food, France has adopted a position of defensive paranoia. But ultimately it won’t stop the rise of compassionate eating because the delicious, nutritious, Earth-friendly and ethical benefits will prevail regardless of what you call the products.”

It is important to note that this ban relates to the way products are marketed and is in no way pushing the population towards heavy meat consumption. At the same time, the National Agency for Food Safety in France maintains advice that French consumers eat no more than 500g of red meat per week and up to 25g of processed meat per day.

FoodIngredientsFirst has reached out to Quorn for further comments.