France Bans Use of 'Meat Terms' to Describe Vegan or Vegetarian Food

Vegan and vegetarian foods can no longer be described using 'meat terms' in France. Food producers in the country will have to come up with alternative names to describes vegetarian food henceforth. The use of words such as 'vegetarian sausages', 'vegetarian mince' and 'vegan bacon' has been banned. French MPs voted to outlaw such vocabulary saying it mislead shoppers.

With the new rule, firms can no longer use words such as 'burger', 'steak', 'sausage' or 'fillet' to describe foods that have no meat in them. Foods made of soya or wheat used to referred as 'ham' slices or 'chicken' pies.

Jean-Baptiste Moreau, an MP for President Macron's La République En Marche party who is also a farmer proposed the ban stating that terms like 'vegetarian sausages' or 'plant burgers' were misleading to consumers. The measure also applies to vegetarian or vegan products marketed as dairy alternatives. Failure to adhere to it will lead to a fine of up to Rs 2.44 crore. The measure was approved by French MPs on Thursday.

Following the passage of the bill, Moreau took to Twitter saying, "Adoption of my amendment to better inform the consumer about their diet! It is important to fight against false claims. Our products must be designated correctly: the terms cheese and steak will be reserved for products of animal origin."

Here is what Moreau tweeted:

Last year, the European Court of Justice ruled that plant-based foods could not be sold using terms such as milk, butter and cheese. Europe's highest court had warned that companies selling plant-based products such as almond and soya milk will have to rebrand their products and stop using the word milk from their advertisements.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 22, 2018 04:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).