A store clerk shows plant based products at a supermarket chain in Brussels, Friday, Oct. 23, 2020. … [+] European lawmakers rejected Friday proposals that could have prevented plant-based products without meat from being labeled sausages or burgers. Following the votes on agricultural products at the European Parliament, the so-called veggie burgers, soy steaks and vegan sausages can continue to be sold as such in restaurants and shops across the union. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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The European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled on Friday Oct. 4 that plant-based foods burgers and sausages can continued to be labeled with names mimicking their meaty counterpart in a dispute that lasted over three years.
The case was brought to court by the Vegetarian Association of France (AVF) and the European Vegetarian Union, after a national French law in 2022 banned the use of meat-sounding terms such as ‘burgers’, ‘wings’ or ‘steak’ used to market plant-based products.
Labeling Rules
Lawmakers argued that terms like ‘veggie burgers,’ could mislead consumers into believing that plant-based products have the same nutritional value as meat or that they contain meat.
According to the CJEU, what would make the French law illegal under EU regulations is that not all ‘meaty’ terms are defined as legal names; many are instead considered descriptive.
In a similar 2017 case with an opposite verdict, the CJEU ruled that non-dairy products could not be labeled as ‘milk,’ ‘butter,’ or ‘cheese’, because the European Union legally recognised them for decades as being unique in composition and source. As a result, most oat, soy, and almond products now adopt the names of ‘spreads’ or ‘drinks’ on European shelves.
France is not the only country to attempt a ban on veggie burgers. In 2023, Italy joined the list of countries seeking to restrict labeling on plant-based meat products, when lawmakers proposed banning the production and sale of cultivated meat. This move came despite Italy’s plant-based market, which was valued at over 640 million euros and grew by 16% between 2021 and 2023.
Why is it a good news for the plant-based sector?
The plant-based market has faced significant growth barriers over the past year. One of the main challenges is the lack of infrastructure to produce alternative protein products, as well as insufficient capital to support startups looking to launch and expand within the market.
“I am extremely glad to see this outcome, which brings clarity to the plant-based meat industry and reaffirms a core tenet of EU law: the average consumer is not easily misled and will read labels,” said Rosa Oyarzabal, Associate at law firm Covington & Burling LLP, who represented the alternative protein company Beyond Meat in the court case.
This decision brings positive news for the sector, which had been waiting for clarity on how to label their packaged plant-based products, hoping to alleviate the competitive disadvantage compared to traditional meat.
The inability to use terms like ‘burger’ or ‘sausage’ would have created further economic challenges, as rebranding and marketing alternative names would have been both time-consuming and costly, but also having to throw existing packaging already containing the incriminated words. So far some companies like Beyond Meat started to market their products using the word ‘patties’ to label their plant-based burgers, but for other type of products an alternative name are more difficult to find.
Additionally, changing terms like ‘veggie burger’ to something else would have slowed consumer adoption, as the plant-based sector would have had to re-educate consumers. This legal decision could positively shift investor sentiment and help put the plant-based industry back on track.
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Publish date : 2024-10-07 04:59:00
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