Plant-based ‘meat products’ will not be taken off shelves on Monday

South African plant-based meat producers breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday morning after the Johannesburg High Court ruled that the Food Safety Agency (FSA) cannot seize plant-based meat alternatives in retailers across the country for using product terms such as “burger”, “nugget”, and “sausage”.

The seizures of these products were scheduled to take place from Monday 22 August.

The legal efforts followed a letter sent out by the FSA on 16 August indicating that, as of 22 August, the agency “will seize any meat analogue products presented for sale in SA, which are using the product names prescribed for processed meat products in terms of the Agricultural Product Standards Act”.

However, according to ProVeg’s statement, plant-based meat alternatives are not currently covered by legislation and are also excluded from the scope of the processed meat regulations.

In April this year, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) issued a directive indicating that the Executive Officer would commence with “the development of new regulation for meat analogue products”. According to a statement released by ProVeg on Saturday morning, 85% of stakeholders were in favour of new regulations being developed for meat analogue products.

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The statement also points out that this was the last communication they received about the matter and that according to ProVeg’s knowledge, this process has not started despite the eagerness of businesses and organisations in the plant-based meat alternative sector to formulate new and appropriate regulations.

Donovan Will, ProVeg South Africa Country Director, said that although they welcome the court’s decision, they would like to reiterate their call for further dialogue as they still believe the matter should be settled through discussions between the plant-based industry, DALRRD and the meat industry.

ProVeg says that if this directive is implemented, it will have a devastating effect on the industry and consumers.

If this directive is implemented, the label changes alone can lead to job losses as various companies may have to reduce their workforce to cope with the abrupt and unforeseen costs of having to change labels.

They also fear that these label changes will harm the reputation of the products and confuse the customers.  

“The decision to seize products using names such as “Plant Based Bratwurst”, “Mushroom Biltong” and “Vegan Nuggets” may result in consumers and the public losing trust in the quality of meat analogues due to unexplained label changes,” the statement reads.

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It added that if manufacturers are prohibited from using food-related terms commonly used and understood by consumers to market their products, consumers will be left confused and frustrated.

“Many consumers are specifically looking for products that mimic animal products because they grew up eating them and still enjoy the taste. If a consumer is looking for a vegetarian burger that mimics a beef burger it will be very confusing if the product cannot indicate that it is beef-style and cannot use the word burger.”

ProVeg said that they will continue to opt for non-legal routes to ensure that new and appropriate regulations are developed for plant-based meat alternatives, but added that they urge the government to fast-track the development of new regulations without any punitive measures on the plant-based sector in the interim.

*Compiled by Xanet Scheepers