He Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled against the requests of the meat industry Spanish and allowed products to use terms such as vegan sausage. The meat sector in Spain has demanded a change in the law so that these foods are not confused with others of animal origin. More precisely, the National Association of Meat Industries of Spain (Anice) asked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planasto prepare a Royal decree on the quality of foodstuffs so that “every thing by its name” is called. However, the European Union has turned its back on the sector.
More precisely, European justice authorizes the use of terms such as steak either sausage vegan, whether or not they include additional details such as vegetable either soy.
The judgment is in agreement with four French entities which operate in the sector of vegetarian and vegetable products and which opposed a decree of the French government prohibiting the use of these names to designate processed products containing vegetable proteins Names are used to protect the transparency of information on foodstuffs in commerce.
These entities requested the annulment of the decree State Council French, who posed several preliminary questions to the Court of Justice concerning the interpretation of the regulation.
In response, the CJEU considers that, unless they adopt a legal name, Member States cannot prohibit the use terms traditionally associated with products of animal origin to designate a product containing plant proteins.
Vegan sausage
In this regard, the Court of Justice specifies that a measure which is limited to prohibiting the use of terms such as “sausage” to designate foods having certain characteristics is not equivalent to a measure which requires that foods meet certain requirements in order to be used.
However, he adds that if a national authority considers that the particular conditions of sale or promotion of a foodstuff mislead the consumer, it may take legal action against the food sector operator concerned.
