In 2020, French parliament banned the use terms to designate foods of animal origin – such as steak and sausage – for products containing vegetable proteins, which it clarified by decree on 29 June 2022 and again on 26 February 2024.
The enforcement of the 2022 decree had already been temporarily suspended following legal challenges from a number of plant-based food companies, including French alternative protein brand La Vie.
Legality of the claims
However, the legality of these claims was called into question by the Conseil d’Etat (Council of State), France’s highest administrative court. It brought the issue before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).
The CJEU ruled that member states of the EU could not enact national measures that regulate or prohibit the use of common or descriptive names – other than legal names – to describe, market or promote foodstuff containing plant proteins.
“Where it has not adopted any legal name, a Member State cannot, by means of a general and abstract prohibition, prevent producers of vegetable protein-based foods from fulfilling the obligation to indicate the name of those foods through the use of customary names or descriptive names,” said the CJEU.
Misleading information
However, if a national authority considers a product is using these terms to mislead consumers, it may prosecute the food business operator concerned.
This week, the Conseil d’Etat announced it had annulled the previous two decrees prohibiting the naming of products containing vegetable proteins by terms of butchery, delicatessen and fishmonger.
“In accordance with this ruling by the CJEU, the Council of State considers the 2022 and 2024 decrees – which prohibited the use of common or descriptive names, consisting of terms from the butchery, delicatessen and fishmongering sectors – to describe, market or promote foods containing plant proteins, to be illegal and contrary to European regulations.”
Meanwhile, after EU member states endorsed proposals to ban traditional smoke food flavours, I.T.S has responded by launching a range of ‘smoke-free’ natural smoke flavourings.
