A court in Switzerland considered Friday that the names of animals cannot be used to describe vegan products, believing that expressions such as “plant chicken” or “vegan pork” constitute a hoax for consumers.
“The term ‘chicken’ designates a birds of corral, an animal,” said the Federal Court in a press release, which considers that in the eyes of the Swiss Law, “any indication on food must be agreed with reality.”
However, “a plant product that refers to the term” chicken “and does not contain meat constitutes a hoax,” this court added at the end of a public deliberation. According to this court, the “imitation products” but also “the advertising of these products” must be “designed to allow the consumer to recognize the type of food and differentiate the merchandise of the products with which it could be confused.”
Planted foods
This conflict around the names used to describe products of plant origin refers to food planted by the Swiss company. Created in 2019, the new company of the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich makes meat substitutes, especially based on yellow peas in different forms, including hamburgers, fillets, sausages or chopped.
To make known, the brand had broken a record in 2021 by the manufacturer, in the vegan version based on the pea protein, the very long Scnitzel of the world, a gigantic Viennese squalus, which is 119 meters long. In a statement, Judith Wemmer, co -founder of the company, said she was “disappointed” by “a decision of this magnitude” that seems to be “dictated by politics and emotions” and is part of the “contradiction” with the policy of the Swiss government that seeks to encourage “a more plant meal.”
The company said it regretted that the Federal Court did not take into account a study conducted with consumers who demonstrated that “93%” of them understood “in seconds” that the word “planted.” Hicken “designated a product of origin of the plant. However, she thanked” generic terms such as steak or net “can always be used.
In 2021, the cantonal laboratory, the authority responsible for consumer protection, had estimated that these products could not be described with animal names. The company had seized the administrative court of Zurich that had decided in its favor, judging that these names give information about the use of the product, the word chicken, for example, allowing to understand how success it corresponds, provided that it is clearly labeled as vegan. On Friday, the Federal Court admitted an appeal from the Ministry of Interior aimed at canceling this decision of the Zurich Court.
Fundraising
Sold in the large chains of Swiss supermarkets, the brand of planted food was very successful and has launched other markets, including France Germany and the United Kingdom. The company does not reveal its turnover, but uses more than 200 people less than six years after its creation.
The sums raised have risen on the tables. The company had raised 7 million Swiss francs (7.4 million euros at the current rate) in 2019 to finance its first factory in Kemptthal, to the northeast of Zurich. During a third fundraising in 2022, he had obtained 70 million francs from a group of investors, including Catreton, an investment fund with which the French giant of Luxury LVMH and his boss Bernard Arnault is associated. Foods planted announced in September a new factory project in Germany.
The brand was chosen for the ambassador, a famous Swiss fighting champion, a sport closely linked to the Swiss traditions, with tournaments of each year where veal sausages and the brain occupy a special place in grilled stalls.
Source: BFM TV
