“Avoid any advertising confusion”
“The abusive use of these terms used by the plant-based products industry is likely to create confusion among consumers and devalues the work of the animal sector,” explain the two parliamentarians. The motion is entitled “What is meat for one is vegetable for another”.
“It is therefore in no way a debate for or against meat, but a question of avoiding any advertising confusion,” Marion Wahlen explains to Keystone-ATS. “The idea is clearly to highlight the players in meat and short circuits, therefore local, as opposed to soya which, for example, is not produced here,” underlines the winemaker MP.
Motion accepted in Valais in December
More precise than in the canton of Valais, the Vaudois motion asks the Council of State to propose to the Grand Council a bill modifying that on advertising procedures (LPR) in order to prohibit, particularly in public spaces, the advertising using terms linked to meat products of animal origin to name meat-free foods, based on vegetable proteins. The modification could take the form of a new article.
The legislative adaptation, desired by the movers, must also make it possible to establish a list of names whose use in advertising would be reserved solely for products of animal origin.
Last December, the Valais Grand Council accepted a motion aimed at banning the promotion of plant-based steaks. It was signed by elected officials from the UDC, the Center and the PLR. The text was approved by 60 votes for, 48 against and eleven abstentions. It is up to the Council of State to now propose a legislative project.
What about “beef heart” tomatoes?
As a counterpoint to this debate, the Vaud environmentalist MP Valérie Zonca spoke Thursday in an opinion column in the 24 hourstitled “Who’s afraid of plant-based steaks?” She believes that “recent studies show that consumers differentiate very well between meat products and substitutes. The latter are in fact often very clearly labeled “vegetarian” and are presented on separate shelves in supermarkets.
“The arguments brandished in the Vaud and Valais parliaments are in reality more useful for the meat industry in order to fight against the new, growing market for plant substitutes, which is increasingly overshadowing them,” judges elected.
On a lighter note, she asks, “What do we do with seafood that isn’t fruit? What about lamb shank which is not a dish made from mice? And what to do about coconut milk, which is not milk at all? Are sea bass dangerous for our herds? And the list of dietary inconsistencies could be long. Before concluding: “It remains to be hoped that the “beef heart” tomato will be spared from these bans from another time.”
The Vaudois motion will be sent back to committee, before a debate in plenum which is likely to be lively.
