France attempts to ban 'misleading' meat names for plant-based alternatives
It is the second time the country has tried to impose restrictions on the naming of meat alternatives. The first was suspended after the proposal was called too vague.
Tuesday 5 September 2023 13:29, UK
France is attempting to become the first EU country to impose restrictions on naming plant-based meat alternatives.
Farmers and meat producers in the country have long argued against terms like "vegan sausage" or "plant-based burger" - saying that they confuse customers.
In a new draft proposal, which only applies to products made and sold in France, the government is seeking to ban a list of 21 meat names from describing protein-based products, including "steak", "escalope", "spare ribs", "ham" or "butcher".
The country already tried to pass a similar measure in June last year, but it was suspended by the country's highest administrative court a month later, which argued that it was too vague, and the timeframe for implementing new rules was too short.
However, a sharp growth in the global plant-based protein market that often references meat products has caused anger among livestock farmers and meat processors in the EU's biggest agricultural producer.
"This new draft decree reflects our desire to put an end to misleading claims... by using names relating to meat products for foodstuffs that do not contain them," French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau said in a statement.
More than 120 meat-associated names - such as "cooked ham", "poultry", "sausage" or "bacon" - will still be authorised to describe meat alternatives under the proposal, provided the products do not exceed a certain amount of plant proteins, with the proposed percentages ranging between 0.5% and 6%.
The word "burger", used by many brands to attract consumers, is also not included on the lists of suggested banned words.
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If passed, the decree will come into force three months after publication to give operators time to adapt their labelling.
It would also give manufacturers the opportunity to sell all stocks with old labels, one year after publication at the latest.