Oui oui baguette, non non vega

Butchers and meat suppliers already had plenty on their minds as a result of people eating less meat, but the producers of vegetarian meat alternatives are now also using meat-related names for their products. Surely this is misleading?

The trademark law states that distinctive product names filed as trademarks may not be misleading. For example, the Benelux trademark authority rejected an application for CHICKEN TONIGHT, as it considered its use for non-chicken-related meat to be misleading.

Problems can arise even when no trademark application has been filed. Generic product names, such as hamburger, merguez sausage and cordon bleu, are often used to describe vegetarian products. Also for these generic terms rules have been established. The Dutch company De Vegetarische Slager (The Vegetarian Butcher) had to rename their vegetarian product named ‘minced meat’. Since then, however, the European Parliament has ruled that vegetarian products may use names suggestive of meat as long as it is labelled vegetarian.

The French government decided to take a different approach. Recently, it issued a decree banning all meat-related terms such as 'meat' and 'ribs' from the packaging of vegetarian and vegan products. Other names like ‘escalope’, ‘ham’, ‘fillet’ and ‘prime rib’ will also be banned. French farming organisations and the meat industry have long awaited this measure and are all too happy about it. The French government states that vegetarian products bearing names that refer to meat could confuse consumers, and that such words must be reserved for ‘real’ meat. The decree is based on a 2020 French law, the application of which was temporarily suspended by the Council of State in June 2022 following a complaint by 'Proteines France', an alliance of French companies specialising in plant-based foods. The alliance argued that the French law violated EU food rules, and the Council of State considered the descriptions of the prohibited product terms to be ‘too vague’.

The revised decree does allow for some products with a small amount of vegetable content to be sold under a name that refers to meat, such as merguez sausage, bacon or cordon bleu. French producers have one year to sell their existing stock, selling a vegetarian product under one of the banned terms risks a fine. In the rest of the European Union, however, producers can continue to sell vegetarian variants with names that would normally be associated with meat.

De Vegetarische Slager has already responded to the news with separate packaging/advertising.

Author: Arnaud Bos

Bio: Arnaud is trademark attorney and within Knijff responsible for the marketing & communication. Arnaud is specialist in the metaverse and music sectors and his client portfolio includes many upcoming and renowned bands. He keeps a close eye on the latest case law in the EU and will let you know when he sees remarkable applications.