2024-03-12 16:09:24
An advertisement from the 1970s sold a beverage which looked like alcohol, tasted like alcohol but was not alcohol. The question arises today for meat. Can we still use the word when it comes to “vegetable steaks”, “vegetable meatballs and escalopes”, “vegetable bacon”, “vegan sausages”, “vegetable rillettes” or even “vegan vegetable butchery » ?
The law wanted to provide an answer. A decree published in Official newspaper at the end of February now prohibited these names which directly refer to pieces of meat, as well as the terms, “referring to the names of animal species and groups of species, to animal morphology or anatomy” when it comes to marketing a product containing vegetable proteins. The text brings satisfaction to those involved in the animal sector (breeders, butchers), at the origin of the demand. Some consumers also adhere to it, seeing little sense in talking about “vegetable sausage”.
The decision, however, is not unanimous. The government had already wanted, in June 2022, to reserve the use of the terms “steak” or “sausage” for animal proteins, but the decree had been called into question by Proteins Francea French consortium of companies aiming to unite and catalyze the development of the plant sector.
Meat is also less and less favored by citizens: too expensive, harmful to health when it is overconsumed and in particular the Red meat, harmful to the planet with the deforestation or water consumption that it often involves. Alternative diet attempts to limit these negative effects. This is the purpose of “plant-based meat” (provided that the additives are limited) and the consumers are sensitive to it.
Feeding the planet while protecting it, eating good and healthy food while taking into account the well-being of animals are now part of political, scientific, social and societal discourse. Manufacturers, aware of these new injunctions, are creating new products under the cover of terminology that raises questions. In fact, it is not so much a question of producing as of communicating with a view to marketing by seeking the best degree of acceptability of the names, a phenomenon which has been the subject of our works.
Call cucumber salad “meat”?
What about the “meat” label? The word has evolved a lot. Until the 17the century, it designated everything that can sustain life (housing), that is to say food in general. Madame de Sévigné thus called “meat” a salad of cucumbers and kernels… Animal flesh meat was rather designated by the term “carne”.
It was only then that the word became specialized to designate the flesh of mammals and birds until, today, it took on a more generic meaning: a source of proteins and essential fatty acids. For some, this includes fish; for others, due to zoological classification, or by personal convictions or religious opinions, it wouldn’t be.
And the steak? Here again the meaning evolves. Initially he designates a slice of meat to be grilled whereas currently it refers more specifically to a slice of red meat in accordance with the English beef steak (even if we sometimes speak of “tuna steak”). So it is undoubtedly the way of cutting the piece into slices which motivates the use of the term and allows it to be distinguished from minced steak.
So no more plant-based steaks, soy cutlets and other products (21 in total), using terms that refer to meat, which can introduce confusion into the mind of the consumer. It is true that these terms are commonly used to designate meat, that is to say animal proteins.
However, society evolves and its language with it. This has often resorted to semantic shifts which function by analogy of form or appearance, use, taste: in short, by imitation. The escalope for example is defined by analogy as “a dish prepared and presented like a cutlet of meat or fish”. What can we say about beef pear (piece of meat defined by its shape) and veal ruff (inner membrane of the intestine, from Latin strawberry which means “skin, envelope”)? Will arborists and market gardeners step up to the plate?
No harmonization
What if the decree only reinforces the confusion it claims to remove? THE “products legally manufactured or marketed in another Member State of the European Union or in a third country” remain authorized. In 2020, the France already banned “vegetable steak” unlike European regulations. Harmonization is not yet there. However, some countries have taken similar measures regarding the labeling of plant products, Belgium within the EU, further afield Turkey or Australia.
The identification and recognition of these plant-based products in stores is also based on two elements: on the one hand the mention “plant-based” or “vegan” and also their place on supermarket shelves. These products are usually presented in specific departments. But some large retail chainsparticularly in the United States, place them next to products of animal origin.
To be consistent, we should also review the names and the separation of products such as soy milk, a drink of plant origin. This was the case since in 2017, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) published a ruling banning these names. But depending on the country, exceptions exist as for France: we can say “almond milk, coconut milk, rice cream, cocoa butter”. The CJEU specifies that the addition of statements indicating plant origin changes nothing and does not call into question this ban. Also in France, the names which are not subject to exception refer to a generic term: “drink of” “au” or “vegetable drink”.
How to name them then?
If for the former “soy milk” the substitution was easy, the names concerning the “future former” plant-based meat seem more difficult because it affects many products (steak, escalope, bacon, ham, etc.). The use of a generic term therefore does not seem possible. “Vegetable steak or burger” finds an equivalent in “vegetable or vegetarian patty”, which retains a similarity with the shape. For escalope, which designates a thin slice, the subject is more delicate: could we consider a “thin vegetable slice”? But then, what should you call sliced “vegetable ham”?
Could “vegetable lardons” be replaced by “small vegetable sticks”? This is already used by marques s which present an “ocean flavor” product or ” of the sea “ resembling breaded fish sticks. What else can I say about supremethese breasts and flesh of poultry or feathered game whose term by extension means a very elaborate preparation and which become “supreme plants” ?
The problem of the food terminology used was also raised by the Prime Minister in February 2024 about “synthetic meat”, animal proteins grown in the laboratory, another alternative form which is also still seeking its name.
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