“What’s in the name?” famously quoted by William Shakespeare but does it still hold relevant? Animal Farming Industry has a history of changing names to mask the reality the food and cause a disassociation between animals and their meat, “pork” to describe a pig meat, beef to describe a cow or buffalo meat, “veal” to describe a lamb meat. 

On 23rd October 2020, the European Union declared that plant-based burgers can continue to use the word “Burger”. This ruling came in direct response to the appeal by Europe's largest farmers' association, Copa-Cogeca, had supported a ban, arguing that labelling vegetarian burger with the tag “burger” and “sausage” can be misleading for consumers. 

Similar appeals have been made in the past to ban the use of the word “milk” to describe plant milks such as soy milk and almond milk and instead use the word “juice”. While coconut milk has been called “coconut milk” since the year 1200AD, Almond and Soy milk also date back to the 13th and 14th century. On the other hand, sausages do not describe any particular meat but is a term used to describe the shape. Even the humble peanut butter doesn’t contain any ‘dairy based-butter’, shouldn’t it be renamed as well? 

As reported by the Good Food Institute, the EU has tied the hands of plant-based dairy as they backed a ban on terms like 'cheese style'.

However, in another part of the World, Miyoko’s Creamery, a U.S based vegan dairy manufacturer won a suit filed against the State of California to allow use of the terms “lactose free”, “cruelty free” and “butter” on its vegan products. After a year-long legal suit, in August 2020, the court finally declared the judgement in favour of Miyoko’s. 

What’s in a name?

In August, FSSAI had introduced a similar bill to ban plant-based milks from using the term ‘milk.’ The bill was disapproved after FSSAI upon receiving many emails to withdraw the bill before passing. 

Plant-based companies around the world have been subjected to harassment from the massive Dairy and Meat Industry via legal route. While they mask their cruelty with misleading tags such as “free range” and grass-fed”, plant-based ethical foods practise clear labelling such as “cruelty free” and “vegan”. The more pressure the vegan industry faces, the more it endures the faulty claims of businesses who have thrived on suffering and illness of animals and human consumers, paving way for an ethical food options to be more accessible.

Consumers are powerful and aware of the many sources of ‘milks’, ‘burgers’ ‘butters’. Infact, in this fast growing age of foodtech, transparent labeling is preferred by many. Today's conscious consumers seek variety and restrictive labelling is counter-productive. This is one step forward, but there is lot's more to be accomplished for the plant-based world.

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