European Court Strikes Down Bans On Meat Names For Vegan Food

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has struck down France’s bid to ban the use of “meaty” terms on plant-based products. But the ruling applies beyond France, forbidding all EU member states from trying to introduce similar bans.

A country can only stop plant-based products from using meat-based terms that already have a specific legal name, the ECJ judge ruled. Generic terms such as sausage, steak, or burger do not have strict legal definitions and so can be used to describe vegan food.

The ruling comes after organizations including Protéines France and the European Vegetarian Union (EVU), along with Beyond Meat, challenged the French government in its second attempt to introduce a ban through a decree. It had already tried once in 2022 and again this year in February. In April, France’s top administrative court suspended the decree issued by the French government. It said there was “a serious doubt over the legality of such a ban,” and that it would remain suspended until the ECJ could review it and make a final ruling.

Belgium had also considered bringing in a ban but put it on hold earlier this year.

Sufficient protection

nmann77 – stock.adobe.com The ECJ has put an end to France’s attempts to restrict “meaty” words to animal products

Meat lobbyists and governments attempting to restrict the use of meaty names had argued that consumers could be confused by their use on plant-based products.

But the ECJ said that consumers are already sufficiently protected from being misled by the use of meaty names on vegan food by EU law. However, if a food label or marketing is found to be misleading, member states can take action accordingly.

The ECJ’s ruling also aims to protect the “harmonisation” of the EU single market. Some countries disallowing plant-based food from using meat terms would have made it difficult for them to be sold across borders.

“We welcome the clarity given by the European Court of Justice in this judgement,” Jasmijn de Boo, Global CEO of ProVeg International, said in a statement. “We now hope that the French court will take to heart what has been said about the disruption that a ban on ‘meaty’ names for plant-based food will cause and dismiss the restriction accordingly.”