European justice contradicts the French ban on the vegetable name “steak”.

2024-10-05 03:48:21

Backtracking to enter the vegetarian sections of French supermarkets? An EU member state cannot ban producers of plant-based meat alternatives from using terms such as “steak”, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled on Friday, contradicting a decree adopted by France.

In its ruling, the Court finds that, unless it has adopted a specific legal name for a food, a State cannot prohibit the use of terms intended to designate the product.

VideoShould we opt for plant-based “steaks”?

For the CJEU, “a Member State cannot prevent, by means of a general and abstract ban, producers of plant protein foods” from using “usual names or (de)scriptive names”.

Risk of confusion?

The French government had published two decrees to respond to a long-standing request from stakeholders in the animal sector, for which terms such as “vegetable ham”, “vegan sausage” or “vegetarian bacon” can create confusion among consumers.

These two texts, drawn up in June 2022 and then in February 2024, were contested by actors in the vegetarian and vegan products sector such as the Protéines France association. Both were suspended under summary proceedings by the Council of State, pending the opinion of the CJEU on their compliance with the European regulation.

The latest decree is among the commitments made by the government to calm farmers’ anger this winter, and was published during the last Agricultural Exhibition.