The French government affirmed on Monday that it had prepared a new decree aimed at prohibiting the use of names such as “steak” or “grill” to designate vegetable protein products, determined to impose this differentiation. The text is a long-standing demand from animal industry players, who believe that terms like “vegetable ham,” “vegan sausage” or “vegetarian bacon” can mislead consumers.
The government had published a first decree in June 2022, but the latter was suspended in summary proceedings by the Council of State. The highest administrative court, which has not yet ruled on the merits of the case, appealed to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in July 2023 on questions of interpretation of European regulations on labeling.
Escalope, andouille and chorizo
The Ministry of Agriculture claims to have taken into account the observations of the Council of State to prepare a new text, which includes, in particular, lists specifying the terms mentioned, without waiting for the outcome of the procedure before the CJEU. In particular, it added two lists specifying terms to be reserved for animal products or products containing very little vegetable protein, such as sirloin, schnitzel, andouille or chorizo. The text would not apply to products “legally manufactured or marketed” outside of France.
The government notified the text at the end of August to the European Commission, which has very detailed rules on labeling. The ministry specified that the decree could be signed and published three months after the date of this notification, subject to the reactions of Brussels. The text “is a matter of transparency and loyalty that responds to a legitimate expectation of consumers and producers”, estimated the French Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, quoted in a statement.
The new text remains problematic for Guillaume Hannotin, a lawyer for the Protéines France organization, which defends industrialists in the vegetable protein sector and had requested the suspension of the first decree. According to him, this is still in contradiction with the European regulations on labeling which, in the absence of a legal definition for milk, accepts use or descriptive names for alternatives to meat.
“Handling” according to L214
“The term vegetable fillet has been used for more than 40 years,” he explained to AFP. And certain words that evoke a shape, like sausage, or a way of cooking “are hard to substitute.” According to Guillaume Hannotin, the government’s attitude is also similar to contempt for European procedures, since it “torpedoes the preliminary ruling procedure under way before the CJEU”.
The co-founder of the association for the defense of animals L214, Brigitte Gothière, denounced for her part an “exemplary manipulation by the Ministry of Meat”. “Do people confuse motor oil, olive oil and jojoba oil? I don’t think so. They don’t confuse vegetable steaks with beef steaks either,” she wrote on X (ex-Twitter).
Source: BFM TV
