'Veggy steaks': What impact will the EU ruling have on the European market?

Plant-based manufacturers can keep using meat-related names, but this victory for consumer transparency could risk market fragmentation.

Transcript

00:00Is it steak or is it not?

00:07The European Court of Justice has ruled that a member state cannot prohibit manufacturers

00:11of plant-based meat substitutes from calling their product veggie burger or vegan filet

00:17without adopting a legal definition of that product.

00:23Sometimes made from soy or wheat, these products can therefore remain on the shelves of supermarkets

00:28under these names.

00:34Shoppers have different opinions on the matter.

00:37Maybe it's a bit contradictory in the way that chicken is meat, you know, and if they

00:45are plant-based then they should be called in another way or have another type of name.

00:58This ruling contradicts a French regulation that prohibits manufacturers of plant-based

01:08meat substitutes from using the words steak, escalope or ham.

01:16But what does this decision mean for the European consumer?

01:22Vegan and vegetarian associations hail this as a victory and argue that it is in the best

01:26interest of consumers.

01:30Consumers are not confused about the use of these terms, but we do have some studies

01:34stating that consumers will be more confused with new names that we are not used to.

01:39So using these names is also about the consumer protection.

01:45The meat industry, on the other hand, should not be impacted according to associations

01:50defending the industry's interests.

01:55This representative of the sector nevertheless warns against a possible division in the common

02:00market if each member state adopts a different definition of the same product.

02:11There is a vacuum at the regulatory level and this vacuum is now in the hand of member

02:18states that can make their own piece of legislation and this can lead to a fragmentation of the

02:25market. That's my main matter of concern nowadays.

02:30So the battle is not over. In theory, a member state can still adopt a legal definition of

02:35a steak as demanded by the EU court as a prerequisite and then ban the term vegetarian steak and

02:40other similar names for substitutes from their labels.