The government wants to ban the name “vegetable steak”

In a message on Twitter, the Minister of Agriculture reaffirmed his desire to ban the use of terms normally reserved for meat to refer to plant foods.

Minister says he wants to ‘put an end to misleading allegations’

It should be remembered that the labeling law of June 10, 2020 had already attempted to prohibit the use of names for plant foodstuffs usually used to designate foodstuffs of animal origin. But the decree published on June 22, 2022 had been suspended by the Council of State after examining the appeals filed.

The Government has therefore revised its copy to take account of the observations of the Council of State, with a new draft decree. The draft text also provides for sanctions in case of violation of its provisions, with “a period of entry into force of three months after its publication to give operators time to adapt their labelling, as well as the possibility of marketing the foodstuffs manufactured or labeled before its entry into force until stocks are exhausted, and later than one year from its publication“.

“This new draft decree reflects our desire to put an end to misleading claims as provided for by law, by using names relating to meat products for foodstuffs that do not contain them. It is an issue of transparency and fairness which responds to a legitimate expectation of consumers and producers. To maintain the bond of trust with consumers, labeling and its intelligibility are essential. This is the objective of this decree and of all government policy in this area. says Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.

L214 denounces “exemplary manipulation by the meat ministry”

For some associations, the minister gives in to this long-standing claim of the actors of the animal sector. On Europe Info, Guillaume Hannotin, lawyer for the organization Protéines Europe, which defends vegetable protein manufacturers, judges that “The term vegetable steak has been used for over forty years“. According to him, these words evoke the shape of a food or the way of cooking it and “are difficult to replace”.

Co-founder of the association for the defense of animals L214, Brigitte Gothière denounces for her part a “exemplary handling of the ministry of meat“.