It has been warned by the Vegan Society that the EU’s proposed ban on ‘meaty’ names for meat substitutes, could financially impact the public sector.
Traditional names for animal based products that have now been adopted by meat substitute manufacturers such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ are at risk of being changed to words such as ‘discs’ and ‘tubes’, which the Vegan Society have stated ‘do not constitute clear food labelling under EU consumer law because such terms do not describe or facilitate ease of interpretation, nor make it easy to perceive the food item in question.’
A letter sent to EU officials, signed by George Gill, the CEO of the Vegan Society, has legally challenged the plans for a ban, on the grounds of breaching fundamental human rights of vegans that are set out by the Union. The letter argues that it contravenes the EU consumers’ right to be informed adequately as to how goods can be used and denies the vegan community the benefits offered by EU law on clear labelling.
Mr Gill stated that: “As consumers are increasingly moving away from eating animals, the demand for vegan products is growing. There’s no denying that meat, dairy and egg industries are feeling threatened by this and desperately trying to restrict the marketing of vegan products.
“These proposals have little to do with consumer protection and instead are motivated by economic concerns of the meat industry. We are calling on EU officials to reject these irrational measures for vegan meat alternatives to be banned from using the qualified conventional terms everyone has been using for decades.”