This is EU-wide, not just how good your local options are.
Also, this would otherwise be an open door to degrade your meat-eating products. In Denmark (and I guess EU), we’d been fighting for “cheese” to only be made of 100% cheese, or “juice” being 100% fruits. If you start to allow some of these ultra-processed foods being labeled as something vaguely like meat, everyone will suffer from falling food quality, as these products will sneak their way in.
I’m all for deliberate labeling separating artificial and adulterated products that deviate from the intent of the name. Juice that has a bunch of sugar water added shouldn’t be called just juice. Call it a “drink” and slap a marketing “With Real Apple Juice!” on it if you want fake + juice instead of 100% juice.
I think that can be accomplished by rules like, say, having to have the words “plant-based” clearly visible next to the word “burger” in a legible font at an equivalent size. And if it contains any actual meat, then it has to say something like “40% real meat” in an equally visible place in an equally legible way.
At the moment what happens here in the UK is that you get things advertised as “mlk” or “scheese”. There’s no standardised language, and it’s actually harder to work out what it is you’re looking at. I imagine it’d be similar if people have to start selling “brgers” and “bergurs”. Might even lead to more chance of a mix-up for people who can’t read well.
A specific logo would be good, too. Separate, easily distinguishable logos for vegan, vegetarian, and containing meat. At the moment there’s no emblem which tells you something contains meat, and there’s no standardisation on vegan/vegetarian logos, which means that both are a “V” which is either green or in the negative space of something green, and which can be in any font. This isn’t optimal for quickly and easily informing people about the contents of what they’re buying.
So, again, it’s helpful but nowhere near as helpful as it could be - not least for the fact that there are plenty of manufacturers who have veggie/vegan products who don’t label that fact at all. Presumably for fear that the vocal minority who say they won’t eat anything which doesn’t contain meat might not buy their products. But if everything had such labelling, then that would just make it commonplace and people would get used to seeing these labels on their bread/pasta/whatever.
This is EU-wide, not just how good your local options are.
Also, this would otherwise be an open door to degrade your meat-eating products. In Denmark (and I guess EU), we’d been fighting for “cheese” to only be made of 100% cheese, or “juice” being 100% fruits. If you start to allow some of these ultra-processed foods being labeled as something vaguely like meat, everyone will suffer from falling food quality, as these products will sneak their way in.
Weak argument, I don’t think the labels vegerterian burger, or pea purger is doing anything like that.
I’m all for deliberate labeling separating artificial and adulterated products that deviate from the intent of the name. Juice that has a bunch of sugar water added shouldn’t be called just juice. Call it a “drink” and slap a marketing “With Real Apple Juice!” on it if you want fake + juice instead of 100% juice.
I think that can be accomplished by rules like, say, having to have the words “plant-based” clearly visible next to the word “burger” in a legible font at an equivalent size. And if it contains any actual meat, then it has to say something like “40% real meat” in an equally visible place in an equally legible way.
At the moment what happens here in the UK is that you get things advertised as “mlk” or “scheese”. There’s no standardised language, and it’s actually harder to work out what it is you’re looking at. I imagine it’d be similar if people have to start selling “brgers” and “bergurs”. Might even lead to more chance of a mix-up for people who can’t read well.
A specific logo would be good, too. Separate, easily distinguishable logos for vegan, vegetarian, and containing meat. At the moment there’s no emblem which tells you something contains meat, and there’s no standardisation on vegan/vegetarian logos, which means that both are a “V” which is either green or in the negative space of something green, and which can be in any font. This isn’t optimal for quickly and easily informing people about the contents of what they’re buying.
So, again, it’s helpful but nowhere near as helpful as it could be - not least for the fact that there are plenty of manufacturers who have veggie/vegan products who don’t label that fact at all. Presumably for fear that the vocal minority who say they won’t eat anything which doesn’t contain meat might not buy their products. But if everything had such labelling, then that would just make it commonplace and people would get used to seeing these labels on their bread/pasta/whatever.