The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that France could not ban the terms vegetable “steak” or vegetable “sausage” this Friday, October 4, 2024.
Manufacturers of plant-based alternatives to meat cannot be prohibited from using the words “plant-based steak” or plant-based “sausage”, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Friday, inflicting a new setback for the French State, which intended to strengthen the animal sectors in this way.
For the Court, failing to have adopted a legal name specific to a commodity, a State cannot prohibit the use of terms “usual” intended to designate a product.
“A Member State cannot prevent, by a general and abstract ban, producers of foodstuffs based on vegetable proteins” to use “common names or (de)scriptive names”underlines the judgment.
An old demand from stakeholders in the animal sector
After the vote on a law in 2020, the government published two decrees to respond to an already long-standing demand from stakeholders in the animal sector, for whom terms like “vegetable ham”, “vegan sausage” and other “vegetarian bacon” can create confusion among consumers.
These two texts, taken in June 2022 then in February 2024, were immediately contested by players in the vegetarian and vegan products sector such as the Protéines France association, which defends the interests of the sector.
They had both been suspended in summary proceedings by the Council of State, pending this opinion from the CJEU on their compliance with European regulations.
The summary judge, in April, considered that the second decree, which provided for a ban from May 1, “would seriously and immediately harm the interests of businesses” of plant products, which in particular should have urgently modified their packaging.
“It’s Kafkaesque”
“It is now up to the French Council of State to make a final decision”underlined Friday a spokesperson for the European Commission, interviewed during the daily press briefing in Brussels.
For the French plant-based meat brand La Vie, it’s “a long-awaited victory”: “We can therefore continue to use the usual names, such as “vegetable bacon” and “vegetable ham”, names which are the clearest for consumers”reacted Nicolas Schweitzer, the company’s general director.
For the lawyer of the brand and of Protéines France, Me Guillaume Hannotin, “vegetable steak is a term of use that has existed for over 40 years”.
For him, attaching the adjective “vegetable” to “steak” has the merit of clarity: “France, by choosing to ban the use of the word “steak”, prevented producers from naming their products, it’s Kafkaesque”adds the lawyer for whom this approach aimed to “take (the sector) out of the market”.
Europe, in its regulation on consumer information, authorizes the naming of plant products by terms usually used for animal meat.
On the other hand, underlines the Court on Friday, “if a national authority considers that the concrete terms of sale or promotion of a foodstuff mislead the consumer, it may pursue the operator”.
The French government’s latest decree to ban these terms was among the commitments made to appease farmers’ anger this winter.
