France bans 'steak' and 'escalope' labels from vegetarian products
France bans 'steak' and 'escalope' labels from vegetarian products
The French government issued a decree Tuesday banning the term "steak" on the label of vegetarian products, saying it was reserved for meat alone.
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What a strange thing to be pedantic about
Meat industry lobbyists + corruption = stupid shit
Oh we're good at this. In the whole EU it's not allowed to print 'milk' or 'cheese' on something that doesn't contain actual animal's milk. Want to sell soy milk? Ok but don't call it that way...
Except for coconut milk, because reasons.
Yea there are some exceptions for traditional products https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec/2010/791/oj
It's weird, since "milk" in English has included plant milk longer than the taxonomic definition of a "mammal" has existed.
We're not allowed to call part of the night sky, the Milky Way any more.
It actually is allowed for German "Scheuermilch" ("scouring cream", which is a cleaning detergent, literal translation: "scrubbing milk").
The law only addresses agricultural products but yeah there are exceptions for products that were traditional before the law was passed
Oh hell. I've been drinking Scheuermilch! I thought it was a bit crunchy
At least, your teeth or what's left of them is pretty white.
And we had this minister for transport Scheuer...
But his name doesn't come from Scheuermilch, it's rather an abbreviation of "bescheuert" - bonkers.
Germany has a whole line of not milks, almost chicken, like chicken, thun visch and i can almost be certain i saw mjolk and moloko somehwere. I always chuckle a bit when i see it.
Not to mention Vozzarella
Smells a little fishy, I assume
More than a little...
I understand what you were talking about until you got past like chicken lol
I can tell you a little about how Germany does this and I think the rest of the EU & France should be similar. There is a government body defining what specific foods are and if your food doesn't match that, you can't name it like the food in question. And that does make sense - butter has to be made from milk and not some palm oil mixed together by shady businesses and milk has to come from an animal and can't be water & white paint.
This does make sense and really protects the consumer. It does - however - really run into problems when dealing with those vegetarian meat replacements. It would make sense to sell a "vegetarian ham", but ham has an exact, legal definition and part of that definition is that ham has to contain meat.
So cocoa butter, peanut butter, and other nut butters are out.
It's dumb. It's not about protecting consumers, it's about protecting corporate interests.
Cocoa and peanut butter got grandfathered in. If they were to be introduced to the EU market today you'd see them called cocoa fat and peanut creme.
I find it helpful to have the thing being imitated as part of the name, but not the full name. It makes for an easy way to know what the taste and texture should be and how it can be used in cooking. My kid developed a dairy allergy recently and vegan butter in particular is so easy to substitute in old favorite recipes without changing the flavor much or cooking method. As for meat imitations, a “vegetarian steak” (or ham) label conveys a lot about the texture, moisture, saltiness, and cooking techniques you can expect to use while a generic name such as “plant protein block” leaves you much more clueless as to what the texture and cooking method is meant to be for that item. I don’t think it should be legal to sell plant substitutes as only “steak “ or “butter”, but calling it “plant steak” or “plant butter” is way more straightforward and easy to fit on a label than a lengthy description of “plant patty with a fibrous, chewy texture and savory flavor resembling steak.”
while a generic name such as “plant protein block”
"vegan grill patty". German actually had a word specifically for this kind of stuff for ages, goes back to Max Bircher. The man had some sense and didn't try to call it "Gemüsefrikadelle".
And that does make sense - butter has to be made from milk
cries in coal butter
A milk is what I mix with my cereal, pour in my coffee, use in a pancake mixture and so on. I can't see any logic behind limiting this to animal products other than a political agenda.
Sorry you are saying you can't call something that is not cheese 'cheese'? Preposterous.
Well to be precise you're not allowed to label any agricultural product cheese that wasn't made of milk.
There are only some exceptions for traditional things like Leberkäse
It's almost as if words should mean something. Now do milk vs juice.
It isn't
You don't want to be tricked into eating something else than you intended. Even ignoring the whole value of eating meat argument, there is an allergy problem in play
And, I've noticed that vegetarian products are being hidden more and more insidiously over the years. It's intentionally misleading and potentially harmful
No one ever bought vegan steak thinking it was meat. And calling it a vegan steak perfectly explains what kind of product you're looking at.
That's just false. I've seen multiple people including myself and my so make that mistake multiple times.
Maybe it's packaged more clearly where you're from, but over here the difference is quite subtle
You buy steak without caring from what animal but get triggered if it's not meat?
Nice assumption. I can tell a pork steak from eg. a beef one by looking at it. If it's sold as steak and doesn't say something like marinated, I am safe to assume that there is no list of ingredients to check. This is true in Australia and Europe supermarkets. Just a fucking piece of meat. 3 seconds decision while you move on with your shopping.
A meatless product made to look like a beef steak can easily look like a beef steak. So no, until yesterday you didn't need a microscope to 'care' what animal it was you were buying. Now I need to make sure that it's actual fucking meat. That's where making mislabelling illegal does help.
I'd love to see the reaction of the vegans if someone was sneaking in meat or eggs in products labelled as vegan.
You're only assuming that those minced meat is beef when you pick it. It's pretty dumb running through the world with closed eyes and demanding everyone to counteract your shortcoming. I'm sure youre able to read.
I'd love to see the reaction of the vegans if someone was sneaking in meat or eggs in products labelled as vegan.
Lol what's wrong with your mind do you really think vegetables somehow hurt you?
No I love vegetables, it's just that I like to choose and I hate processed foods. Most important I like to know what I am buying and stop customer shaming, I shouldn't need to read the fine print because some scanmers are trying to sell shit for something else.
Good follow-up though with your question about vegetables, I go through the veggie aisle and grab a head of broccoli. Am I allowed to assume it's a fucking broccoli or do I need to read the fine print too? How would vegetarians/vegans (or anyone really) feel if the head of broccoli was plunged in pig fat and sold just as broccoli. And everyone on lemmy was just 'get over it it's still broccoli, it's a word you don't own it' and some other bullshit about shortcomings.
The European union has some pretty strong regulations around food and mislabelling. Sorry doesn't work that way, you can't blame a customer for not reading the fine printing.
Yea the EU allows to call plant based products steak lol. Because its defined as a piece of fried edible. And broccoli is just broccoli, sonce ever. If you cover it in fat it's "broccoli with fat".
You can't blame others for you not being able to think or read
Not just me, also a whole fucking coutry that just legislated about it and more countries will follow.
It's a new thing, it takes time. I and its not just about me not being able to read, it's all the customers that will be mislead and sold processed food instead of, you know, a steak. That some people don't Sure it is allowed, this is a while new thing, give time to regulators to catch up, as France is doing.
Also, Oxford dictionary has four definitions for steak, none of them is that spew of words that you just made up to fit your narrative:
- a thick slice of good quality beef
- a thick slice of any type of meat
- beef that is not of the best quality, often sold in small pieces and used in pies, stews, etc.
- a large thick piece of fish
Ah yes, the good old dictionary. I'm glad this unchanged document of all human language has remained unchanged for millenia, helping us communicate effectively through the ages.
And yet you can't tell apart a vegan steak from a dead animal. Sure thing mate.
Would love to see some pictures if you could share. Maybe you just don't pay much attention to labels?
But that's the actual problem there. For decades you could buy a steak at a supermarket without having to worry about it being some processed shit sold as s steak.
Stop blaming it on the customer. If it's even remotely confusing, it shouldn't be allowed, and France is taking steps in the right direction.
France, Italy, Spain and other countries in that area have a strong food identity and culture, mislabelling is taken seriously. It comes from decades of scammers trying to piggyback on mozzarella, champagne, parmigiano, hamon. Someone trying to sell crap and pretend it's something else is nothing new, and it's just taken care as it should.
Your plant matter protein block is in aisle 5, just don't call it a steak as it is confusing customers that give that word a very specific meaning and have for a very long time. Fucking great opportunity to come up with a new name and make it into the dictionary next year.
But then the problem isn't the name at all right? You just want to hate for hates sake. If the name was the problem, it would be because you read labels and get mistaken. But you don't read labels at all.
And if this law was about helping consumers, they would simply mandate a standardized vegan label on vegan products that imitate other products. This would help both vegans and sensitive little cristals like you.