European justice contradicts France’s ban on the appellation

The decision contradicts a decree taken by France. A member state of the European Union (EU) cannot prohibit manufacturers of plant-based meat substitutes from using terms such as “steak”, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on Friday October 4 ( CJEU).

In its judgment, the Court considers that, failing to adopt a specific legal name for a food, a State cannot prohibit the use of terms intended to designate the product. For the CJEU, “a Member State cannot prevent, by a general and abstract ban, producers of foodstuffs based on vegetable proteins” to use “common names or [des] descriptive names ».

The CJEU was referred twice by the Council of State, after the publication of two decrees, in 2022 then in 2024, prohibiting manufacturers of plant-based meat substitutes from using the words “steak”, “escalope” or ” ham “. But the Council of State had successively suspended them in summary proceedings, doubting “the legality of this ban” and awaiting the decision of the CJEU on their compliance with the European regulation.

The text responded to a long-standing demand from stakeholders in the animal and agri-food sector, who believe that terms like « plant-based ham”, “vegan sausage” or “vegetarian bacon” can create confusion among consumers. It was contested by players in the vegetarian and vegan products sector such as the Protein France association.

The latest decree was among the commitments made by the government to appease the anger of farmers this winter, and was published in February, during the Agricultural Show.