Poland’s push to ban animal-related names for plant-based foods

12 Dec 2023 --- Poland is tabling a decision to bar the naming of plant-based meat alternatives with words too similar to meat products, such as “burger,” “sausage,” “steak,” “ham” and “escalope.” In its draft decree, the Polish Ministry of Agriculture outlined the restrictions, after being pressed by national farming organizations. The agricultural stakeholders demand protections to prevent vegan meat products from misleading consumers.

“If we look at the latest Smart Protein report, Poland comes out as having the most omnivores among those European countries surveyed,” Lucia Hortelano, EU senior policy manager at ProVeg International, tells Food Ingredients First.

Poland’s intent on banning plant-based meat alternative names has drawn criticism from vegan proponents, advocating meat-reduced diets as part of climate emissions reduction efforts and follows a similar legislative push in France. 

“This is a very disappointing development because studies have shown that consumers are simply not confused by the use of “meaty” names for plant-based foods,” says Jasmijn de Boo, CEO of ProVeg International.

“Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 already provides an effective framework to protect consumers against misleading, inaccurate or unclear information communicated to them.”

De Boo argues that a disparate approach may confuse consumer perceptions and further “fragment and distort the Single Market,” potentially “harming” the Polish market in light of consumer demand for products containing plant proteins.

Plant-based proponents argue that a disparate approach may confuse consumer perceptions and further “fragment and distort the Single Market.”“There are also health reasons to encourage plant-based food,” she argues. “The average Polish person consumes up to 80 kg meat a year, which is more than the official recommendations made by Poland’s National Center for Nutrition Education.”

ProVeg encourages all EU nations to formulate policies that promote research, production, and public procurement of climate-friendly food. 

Discrepancies in national approaches
Poland’s policy shift contrasts a proactive stance taken by other EU countries, like Denmark, which has published a comprehensive strategy to promote plant-based food. Germany has also recently committed substantial funds in its 2024 budget to promote alternative protein.

Outside of Europe, South Korea is planning to launch its own strategy this month.

“We would like to see other countries follow this example,” maintains de Boo.

“What we would rather see is industry and government work to actively promote climate-friendly food so that we can tackle the very immediate threat of climate change. Governments need to be going all-out to promote plant-based foods, such as by making funding available for research and promoting public procurement of plant-based food.”

In August, the controversy over using meat-related terms for plant-based products escalated to the European Court of Justice, when France sought to introduce its own laws on plant-based food labeling.

The European Vegetarian Union and the Association Végétarienne de France filed a lawsuit against the French decree that bans the use of words such as “burger”, “steak”, “sausage” and “nugget” for foods that do not contain animal flesh. 

“Plant-based foods can ensure economic growth as consumers shift more to alternative proteins, as made clear in the annual EU Agricultural Outlook report published this week, which predicts a continuing decline in beef and pork consumption and a shift to more plant-rich diets,” argues de Boo.

In July, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute published a report stressing that the lack of legal definitions for vegan food causes confusion for consumers and businesses alike, potentially costing the lives of people with food allergies.

As nations grapple with labeling restrictions on plant-based products, the FAO is taking a closer look at the language used for another emergent sector — cultivated food — particularly as the cell-based industry moves closer to widespread commercialization. 

Earlier this year, the FAO posed an intriguing question: “What terminology best suits food produced by cultivating animal cells in a tank?” 

By Benjamin Ferrer