THE CONVERSATION: Why France banned meat names for vegetarian alternatives

Description

France recently passed an amendment to its Agriculture Bill. It prohibits any product that is largely based on non-animal ingredients from being labelled like a traditional animal product. This essentially bans product names such as “vegetable steak”, “soy sausage”, or “bacon-flavoured strips”.

The argument is that consumers might be misled into believing the products were real meat. Commentators have pointed out how bizarre this claim is, given that these products can easily be distinguished from meat products by their name and their taste.

But to understand this legislation, it’s necessary to look at the recent history of changing food trends and the threat this is having on the meat industry.