Government decision to seize plant-based meat products ‘irrational’

The directive by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development to seize potentially tons of plant-based meat alternatives because of “misleading labelling” has caused a massive outcry.

The department wants all plant-based products using the words burger, nugget, sausage or patties to be taken off store shelves.

Industry players have called the move irrational, illogical and damaging to a fast-growing industry.

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The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa says it has engaged with the department requesting it to resolve the matter and minimise the impact of the directive on “affected members”.

Currently meat analogues are not covered by legislation and are also excluded from the scope of the processed meat regulations.

The department’s existing regulations regarding the classification, packing and marking of processed meat products specifically exclude “meat analogue products or non-meat based products that in general appearance, presentation and intended use correspond to processed meat products e.g. vegan or vegetarian type processed products”.

Separate regulations

Donovan Will, South Africa country director of ProVeg International – a food awareness organisation that aims to halve the global consumption of animals by 2040 – says at the end of last year the department asked the meat and plant-based industries whether they believed it was necessary to have separate regulations for meat analogues (meat alternatives) since the current regulations exclude them.

“The overwhelming majority of players from the plant-based industry agreed to have separate regulations,” he says.

The department was supposed to start working on the new regulations in March, but in June it threatened to enforce regulations for processed meat on plant-based products.

Those in the industry were then given 30 days to get their labelling in order or have their products confiscated.

How to describe meat alternatives, then?

“The most shocking about it all is that when we asked what we are supposed to call our products the department said it is the responsibility of the plant-based industry to come up with their own words because they cannot use the words that already exist,” says Will.

So no more meat-free chicken styled burger, or butternut sausage or vegan nugget.

A growing number of South Africans who grew up eating meat now want to eat less meat, but they still want something that tastes like meat.

However, the manufacturer can’t use the word chicken and it cannot use the word burger.

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“To claim exclusive rights to the word burger or sausage is irrational. In Europe there were new regulations disallowing the use of words like sausage for plant-based foods and the European courts found that no one was being misled.”

Will says they have not seen any evidence from the department that people are “accidentally” buying veggie burgers. There is very little chance of people getting confused.

The products have plant-based signs and vegan signs on it and are in a freezer right next to the vegetables, he adds.

Fussing over words when food security is a real concern

“This is a fast-growing industry in SA,” says Will.

“How can you worry about a product that is environmentally friendly and has health benefits in a country where food security is a real concern?”

The only logical explanation is that there is a lot of pressure from the meat industry and government has succumbed to the pressure and wants to “tear a growing industry apart”.

“We have the technology to make products that give us the same experience as meat but have all the other benefits. We should not be punished for that and we should be able to call it a name that people can understand and recognise,” says Will.

The Consumer Goods Council says there remains a legislative gap in the regulation of meat analogue produce. The industry has grown a “significant customer base” and says it is important for the department to expedite the regulation formulation, without applying punitive measures on the plant-based sector.

“The CGCSA is meanwhile assisting affected members on a case-by-case basis while discussions with the department are underway,” it says in a statement.

Listen as Fifi Peters chats to Brett Thompson Mzansi Meat (or read the transcript here):