> France issued decrees in 2022 and February 2024 restricting the use of words such as “ham,” “steak,” “sausage” and “bacon” to animal-based products. The rules were needed to avoid creating confusion for consumers, said the authorities.
“The people of France are too stupid.” – French government
GeneraalSorryPardon on
>The rules were needed to avoid creating confusion for consumers, said the authorities. French livestock farmers had long been lobbying for such measures.
It is clearly stated on the packaging if a product is vegetarian. Moreover, in supermarkets it is often separate from the real meat products. Rightful decision of the EU court. Farmers should stop whining, no one receives as many subsidies as that conservative profession.
pepe__C on
As if this labelling would create any confusion in France. French supermarkets sell hardly any vegetarian stuff, not even the biggest ones. The smallest supermarket in my home country (culinary wasteland the Netherlands) has more vegetarian stuff than the biggest Intermarché or Carrefour in France.
Irejectmyhumanity16 on
It literally says vegeterian, vegan etc. How can they be confused about it? It is just some goverments bowing to animal farming companies’ complaints so good decision from EU court.
EchoVolt on
While this is a single victory for common sense the whole ‘debate’ is getting really annoying tbh. I’m a veggie and I’m genuinely starting to find myself disliking the EU because of some of this b/s like blocking the use of the term ‘milk’ – driven by the dairy lobby, and mostly France.
Milk in English can be used to describe all sorts of milky emulsions , and suddenly it’s been redefined.
All it’s doing is making the EU look petty to a lot of people. They need to stop being that easily tilted by one or two countries with a bee in their bonnet about vegetarians and very powerful farmers.
It was nonsense like this that fed into Brexit btw, massively so. It was manna from heaven for the tabloids.
Literally nobody was being confused between milk and soya milk, but now is “soya drink” etc etc
On one hand, sure. Calling vegan stuff ‘steak’ or ‘ham’ is false advertising. On the other, who tf would get confused by that?
Lurking_report on
Good, it is a stupid ban anyway.
Can we also undo the ban on calling milk replacements ‘milk’ (something that is banned in more EU countries)? I still call soymilk and coconutmilk ‘milk’ despite they’re not allowed to be labeled like that anymore.
nextstoq on
The restaurants should sell “carrots”, medium rare
Divinate_ME on
And why the fuck is Germany allowed to still insist on that bullshit?
Fuzzed_Up on
EU should make a law that restaurants that label something as vegeterian on the menu, actually serve vegetarian meals. I’ve seen restaurants label chicken or fish as vegetarian options. Edit: Also in France
J-96788-EU on
Maybe they should also spare peanut butter?
wordswillneverhurtme on
If the labeling didn’t matter no one would be crying about it. Obviously vegatarian alternatives see the advantage of using the same name for the product as their competition.
JaZoray on
lots of eu court wins lately
Sellive on
As a French, I agree with the judgment of the court !
clacksy on
The discussions in this thread are hilarious.
Locolama on
Cows have been making the best plant-based meat since like forever. No bland, highly processed slop will ever change that.
I’ll now take all your downvotes.
Maj0r-DeCoverley on
Well… I’m not taking sides in the vegan stuff, just looking at the decision itself: it is a very bad decision, putting businesses above consumers rights. “We can’t ban a term which has no legal definition”. We’re reaching tautology levels of “Switzerland neutrality” ruling here. Also between the lines, it means if the legislators have nothing better to do than *actually establish a legal definition of what is bacon*, then they can ban products outside the definition from using this name. Back to square one.
In the meantime, feel free to sell tofu and name it meat. Or fish. Or anything, go crazy with tofu and scam the consumers. And it is a scam, as soon as it is established than naming tofu “tofu” would significantly hit the sales. People, vegan or otherwise, have a right to accurate information on the market. Don’t forget half of the population IQ is under 100: there are people out there firmly believing surimi contains actual crab. Giving surimi to their kids believing it’s full of omega 3 or whatever. And nutrients deficient kids down the line.
I usually love EU decisions calming down my crazy politicians, but this one? This is “shit” *(bad law decision made of paper and computer bits, does not contain actual shit. For your health, eat at least 5 different names for “fruit tofu” a day)*
Tusan1222 on
In Sweden it’s illegal to call something for something it is not after a few years. For example Kalles Caviar is now only Kalles, but if you get approved like Falukorv (Falu hotdog) you can still make it like that even if it’s not 100% meat (it’s like some weird mixture not vegetarian tho).
19 Comments
[removed]
> France issued decrees in 2022 and February 2024 restricting the use of words such as “ham,” “steak,” “sausage” and “bacon” to animal-based products. The rules were needed to avoid creating confusion for consumers, said the authorities.
“The people of France are too stupid.” – French government
>The rules were needed to avoid creating confusion for consumers, said the authorities. French livestock farmers had long been lobbying for such measures.
It is clearly stated on the packaging if a product is vegetarian. Moreover, in supermarkets it is often separate from the real meat products. Rightful decision of the EU court. Farmers should stop whining, no one receives as many subsidies as that conservative profession.
As if this labelling would create any confusion in France. French supermarkets sell hardly any vegetarian stuff, not even the biggest ones. The smallest supermarket in my home country (culinary wasteland the Netherlands) has more vegetarian stuff than the biggest Intermarché or Carrefour in France.
It literally says vegeterian, vegan etc. How can they be confused about it? It is just some goverments bowing to animal farming companies’ complaints so good decision from EU court.
While this is a single victory for common sense the whole ‘debate’ is getting really annoying tbh. I’m a veggie and I’m genuinely starting to find myself disliking the EU because of some of this b/s like blocking the use of the term ‘milk’ – driven by the dairy lobby, and mostly France.
Milk in English can be used to describe all sorts of milky emulsions , and suddenly it’s been redefined.
All it’s doing is making the EU look petty to a lot of people. They need to stop being that easily tilted by one or two countries with a bee in their bonnet about vegetarians and very powerful farmers.
It was nonsense like this that fed into Brexit btw, massively so. It was manna from heaven for the tabloids.
Literally nobody was being confused between milk and soya milk, but now is “soya drink” etc etc
https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/53405848/Boer_A_2020_EU_food_legislation_impacts_innovation.pdf
On one hand, sure. Calling vegan stuff ‘steak’ or ‘ham’ is false advertising. On the other, who tf would get confused by that?
Good, it is a stupid ban anyway.
Can we also undo the ban on calling milk replacements ‘milk’ (something that is banned in more EU countries)? I still call soymilk and coconutmilk ‘milk’ despite they’re not allowed to be labeled like that anymore.
The restaurants should sell “carrots”, medium rare
And why the fuck is Germany allowed to still insist on that bullshit?
EU should make a law that restaurants that label something as vegeterian on the menu, actually serve vegetarian meals. I’ve seen restaurants label chicken or fish as vegetarian options. Edit: Also in France
Maybe they should also spare peanut butter?
If the labeling didn’t matter no one would be crying about it. Obviously vegatarian alternatives see the advantage of using the same name for the product as their competition.
lots of eu court wins lately
As a French, I agree with the judgment of the court !
The discussions in this thread are hilarious.
Cows have been making the best plant-based meat since like forever. No bland, highly processed slop will ever change that.
I’ll now take all your downvotes.
Well… I’m not taking sides in the vegan stuff, just looking at the decision itself: it is a very bad decision, putting businesses above consumers rights. “We can’t ban a term which has no legal definition”. We’re reaching tautology levels of “Switzerland neutrality” ruling here. Also between the lines, it means if the legislators have nothing better to do than *actually establish a legal definition of what is bacon*, then they can ban products outside the definition from using this name. Back to square one.
In the meantime, feel free to sell tofu and name it meat. Or fish. Or anything, go crazy with tofu and scam the consumers. And it is a scam, as soon as it is established than naming tofu “tofu” would significantly hit the sales. People, vegan or otherwise, have a right to accurate information on the market. Don’t forget half of the population IQ is under 100: there are people out there firmly believing surimi contains actual crab. Giving surimi to their kids believing it’s full of omega 3 or whatever. And nutrients deficient kids down the line.
I usually love EU decisions calming down my crazy politicians, but this one? This is “shit” *(bad law decision made of paper and computer bits, does not contain actual shit. For your health, eat at least 5 different names for “fruit tofu” a day)*
In Sweden it’s illegal to call something for something it is not after a few years. For example Kalles Caviar is now only Kalles, but if you get approved like Falukorv (Falu hotdog) you can still make it like that even if it’s not 100% meat (it’s like some weird mixture not vegetarian tho).