Once upon a time France joined Italy as it had not been since the victories at the Coppi and Bartali Tour. The Macron government, in fact, has decided to ban the terms "steak", "sausage" and "bacon" if it is vegetable meat. To impose it is a new decree published yesterday by the government, according to which in the transalpine country the denominations "meat" will be used only for meat products, in fact. The idea, as we know, has already come to the Italian legislator who in December not only banned meat sounding, but also banned the production of meat Frankenstein. A step that France has not yet taken, but on which it seems to be doing something more than a little thought, since last December was filed the bill for "prohibit the production, processing and marketing of synthetic meat throughout the country".

Returning to the new decree on the prohibition of transalpine "meat sounding", it will start in three months: according to the new decree the vegan steak, bacon without meat and vegetable saucisse are off the menu allowed. Exhibitors who do not comply can be fined up to 7,500 Euro. 

In order not to leave room for doubt, the legislator defined exactly that the word "meat" should be prohibited when describing, marketing and promoting plant-based products: and the list is long. The list of terms now prohibited to producers of plant-based meat alternatives is wide: includes fillet, false fillet (rib, sirloin), rumsteck (rumsteck), entrecôte (rib), onglet (back), bifteck (steak), flanchet (flank), steak, escalope (cutlet) and jambon (ham). The ban extends beyond plants alone. That is, it does not apply only to plant-based products: organisms belonging to other kingdoms, such as mushrooms, are also involved. Producers of mycoprotein products will also have to adapt. 

The decree allows meat products containing vegetable proteins to be marketed as meat, but only if the vegetable content constitutes a specific percentage. As for bacon, for example, a vegetable protein content of up to 0.5% is allowed, in the "filet mignon cotto" a vegetable protein content of 1% is allowed, and in chorizo sausage the vegetable protein content can make up 1,5% of the finished product. 

The new law has been passed to avoid misleading consumers: it follows the government’s decision to ban the use of traditionally "carnea" terminology for plant-based alternatives as early as 2020. The decree was published in mid-2020, but was quickly put on hold by the Conseil d'État, the French Council of State, following a request from the association Protéines France, focused on plant proteins and alternatives. The association argued that the plant products industry would not have enough time to make appropriate changes to the brand and marketing by the proposed deadline of 1° October 2022. The Association argued that the plant products industry would not have sufficient time to make appropriate changes to the brand and marketing.

The prohibition does not apply to products manufactured or marketed in another Member State or in a third country. Reactions from French operators were not long in coming, fearing that the new law might jeopardise the prospects of selling to foreign producers. 

According to Umiami, a French startup that produces plant-based chicken, these regulations have a "serious" impact on the economic development of the sector and on efforts to promote a more vegetable diet: according to the start-up the decree is "totally inconsistent" with national ambitions in terms of reindustrialisation and combating climate change.

HappyVore co-founder Cedric Meston posted an ironic post on social media about the future of the brand’s "chipos" (alternatives to chipolate sausage) once the new law is enforced. HappyVore, above all, fears that the law will apply only to local operators: according to Meston, the law benefits multinationals but penalizes small operators who have helped to develop the market on the national territory. "Unfortunately -Meston wrote on social media- the plant sector was excluded from discussions on the decree and was therefore not able to propose alternative solutions that would not penalize French producers".

France is not the only country that in recent times has considered banning the term "meat" for plant-based products: South Africa has also banned the use of "meat" names on vegan products, as well as Italy last November. A European ban was proposed in 2020, but the European Parliament has vetoed it. At least for now...