nomenclature

A package of La Vie's new plant-based ham

Image courtesy of La Vie
Politics & Law

Plant-Based Companies Respond to French Decree Banning Meat-Like Words on Veggie Packaging

Yesterday 27 February, the French government issued a decree prohibiting the use of words such as “steak, “ham”, “cutlet”, or “escalope” on the labels of meat-free foods. The ruling comes in response to allegations from the meat industry that such terms are confusing for consumers. Similarly, last December, the Republican (Les Républicains) party of France introduced a bill to prohibit the production and marketing of cultivated meat in the tradition-focused country. The measure seriously compromises the sales prospects of home-grown French innovations in the face of major foreign companies not affected by this new legislation, argues French vegan whole-cut leader Umiami. Despite the French government’s support for the industrialisation of the plant-based sector, including the Umiami startup factory, these regulations seriously hamper their economic development …

more

Organisations and brands:

Mathilde Do Chi headshot

© Mathilde Do Chi

Politics & Law

Special Guest Series: Mathilde Do Chi, Expert on Food Law, Part One – Nomenclature & Alt Proteins

Mathilde Do Chi, is the CEO of Vegan Food Law, a food law and regulatory consultancy in global alternative protein regulations. She is an international food law and regulatory consultant with expertise in alternative proteins, novel foods, the future of food, and much more. A frequent public speaker at numerous food and foodtech conferences, Mathilde helps VCs, startups and multinationals comprehend complex food regulations, assisting the likes of Blue Horizon, Planted, and Formo with their legal matters. In this first instalment of a series from Mathilde, which will run at the beginning of each month to provide insights on food law for those in the space, she here addresses the increasingly complex issue of nomenclature in alt proteins and novel foods. Addressing the Inadequacy of …

more

Belgium ends war on plant-Based food labeling

© Lidl Belgium
Politics & Law

Belgium Ends War on Plant-Based Food Labelling: Vegan Burgers & Steaks Can Keep Their “Meaty” Names

Article update 15 Jan 2024: Fien Louwagie, Communications Manager, ProVeg Belgium, said: “Whilst the process for developing the guidelines has not officially changed, we believe it is unlikely to get any further before the next election. We hope that, post-election, the new Government will acknowledge the fact that consumers are not confused at all by plant-based foods carrying “meaty” names and will therefore abandon the development of guidelines altogether.” The Belgian government has concluded the so-called “veggie war,” allowing plant-based products to display meaty names such as ‘vegan burger’ or ‘vegan steak‘, as revealed by Nieuwsblad. The Minister of Economy, Pierre-Yves Dermagne, recently announced that Belgium would not establish guidelines on naming and labelling vegetarian and vegan products. The decision came amidst significant disagreement at the …

more

Organisations and brands:

Nasoya WaBa Grill Steak

©Nasoya
Politics & Law

South Korea Prohibits Terms Such as “Beef” or “Pork” on Plant-Based Product Labels

At the end of November, South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) published labeling guidance for plant-based products, prohibiting the use of animal food names such as “beef,” “pork,” “milk,” or “egg” to avoid confusion with traditional animal products, reports The National Law Review. However, the new rules do permit the use of words that describe the nature of the product or the name of the substituted raw material. So, in this case, ‘plant-based bulgogi’ or ‘bulgogi made from soybeans’ are allowed. To clarify, our understanding is that the prohibition concerns the names of the meat themselves, beef, chicken, or tuna for example. However, descriptive terms like “plant-based chunks” are permitted as are the titles of dishes, with the name of the substituting …

more

Daring Foods

© Daring Foods
Studies & Numbers

The Results Are In: Americans Want Plant-Based Chicken to Be Called Chicken

A survey by the International Food Information Council (IFIC), reveals some interesting findings about American consumers. When presented with an image that resembled a chicken tender, consumers preferred descriptors including the word “chicken”, despite knowing that the product did not contain any animal meat. In terms of preferred name for the vegan product: 45% ranked “plant-based chicken” in their top-three terms, followed by “meatless chicken” (42%), “vegan chicken” (32%), “plant-based strips” (29%) and “vegetarian chicken” (29%). The study, “Consumption Trends, Preferred Names and Perceptions of Plant-Based Meat Alternatives”, was carried out between August 2020 and August 2021, amongst 1,001 US adults between the ages of 18-80 that have a role in the food decision-making and/or food shopping in their household. Encouragingly, the study found that …

more

© ProVeg
Society

Spain: ProVeg Fights Back Against Far Right Political Party Vox

Veggie burgers, meatballs and sausages can be called burgers, meatballs and sausages, even if they do not contain meat. This was pointed out earlier this week by the food awareness organisation ProVeg, in response to the non-legislative proposal presented by far-right political party Vox, in an attempt to go against European regulations governing meat-alternative plant-based products. ProVeg España recalls that this is a terminology endorsed by the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission, which in recent months rejected two amendments (165 and 171) that sought to restrict the designation of plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy products. “Once again we see how consumers are being used as an excuse to slow down the progress of the plant-based sector, which is booming because …

more

Organisations and brands: