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France Bans “Meaty” Terms for Plant-Based Products: Will the European Union Follow?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2022

Ignacio Carreño Open the ORCID record for Ignacio Carreño [Opens in a new window]
Ignacio Carreño*
Affiliation:
Senior Associate, FratiniVergano – European Lawyers, Brussels, Belgium.
*
Email: i.carreno@fratinivergano.eu
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Abstract

Plant-based meat-like food is increasingly popular, and the meat industry has been opposing the use of terms traditionally used for meat and meat products for plant-based alternatives. Against this background, on 29 June 2022 the Government of France adopted Decree No. 2022-947 on the use of certain names used to designate foodstuffs containing vegetable proteins 1 (hereinafter, Decree No. 2022-947), which prohibits the use of names designating foodstuffs of animal origin to be used to describe, market or promote foodstuffs containing vegetable proteins. This article discusses the new French legislation and looks at the situation at the European Union (EU) level where, differently from dairy terms such as “milk” and “yoghurt”, “meaty” terms such as “burger” and “sausage” are not reserved for meat and meat products. France has become the first EU Member State to impose such a ban, while the EU rejected in 2020 a similar proposal that would have resulted in EU-wide restrictions.

Type
Reports
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , December 2022 , pp. 665 - 669
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

1 Décret n° 2022-947 du 29 juin 2022 relatif à l’utilisation de certaines dénominations employées pour désigner des denrées comportant des protéines végétales, available at <https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000045978360> (last accessed 19 July 2022).

2 Code de la consummation, available at <https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/section_lc/LEGITEXT000006069565/LEGISCTA000032222679/?anchor=LEGIARTI000041983720#LEGIARTI000041983720> (last accessed 29 July 2022).

3 Code rural et de la pêche maritime, available at <https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/id/LEGITEXT000006071367/> (last accessed 29 July 2022).

4 Trade Perspectives ©, “Tofu steaks? Developments on the naming and marketing of plant-based foods”, Issue No. 9 of 4 May 2018, available at <http://www.fratinivergano.eu/en/issue-number-9-4th-may2018/#Tofu%20steaks?%20_%20naming%20and%20marketing%20of%20plant-based%20foods> (last accessed 29 July 2022); I Carreño and T Dolle, “Tofu Steaks? Developments on the Naming and Marketing of Plant-Based Foods in the Aftermath of the TofuTown Judgement” (2018) 9(3) European Journal of Risk Regulation 575–84.

5 See Decree on the Use of Certain Denominations Used to Describe Foods Containing Vegetable Protein, available at <https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/tris/en/search/?trisaction=search.detail&year=2021&num=638> (last accessed 29 July 2022).

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