Why has the ECJ blocked France’s plant-based name ban?

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Friday that France’s ban on meat alternatives having ‘meaty’ names cannot go ahead. The reasons for this lie in the lack of legal definitions for many of the descriptors for meat products, such as ‘steak’. The case against the ban, originally brought forward by organisations including the European Vegetarian Union and Association Protéines France, along with US company Beyond Meat, will now be returned to France’s Council of State (Conseil d’État) for a final decision. In February this year​, France announced that it was banning ‘meaty’ names for its plant-based products. Plant-based bacon could no longer be called ‘bacon,’ plant-based steak was not allowed to be labelled ‘steak’, and plant-based sausage would have to find a different name to ‘sausage’. The ban also extended to other meat alternatives, such as those made from mycoprotein. The ban came after claims that such names could cause consumer confusion, as well as opposition ...