Thailand has joined the list of countries proposing a ban on using meat and dairy-style names for plant-based food products.
The country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has created draft regulations which, if passed, could cause plant-based meat and cheese producers to ditch the traditional nomenclature which helps customers understand what they are buying.
According to the FDA, its new proposals – which have been informed by how other countries monitor food labelling of vegan products – will offer some kind of guidelines on how to tackle the marketing of alternative proteins. Under the guidelines, certain terms related to dairy and meat products would be banned when it comes to naming their animal-free counterparts.
As part of its draft regulations for plant-based foods, the Thai FDA has proposed a ban on certain meat and cheese-related terms for vegan analogues.
Thailand FDA speaks outs
FoodNavigator cites the FDA as saying: “At present, alternative protein products are seeing popularity amongst consumers and there are many such items on the market, but the control and supervision of the safety aspect of these in Thailand still has no clear direction.
“We are embarking on a study of the current production and imports of alternative protein products in the country, and studying the related regulations [to apply this knowledge] in the development of regulations and standards in Thailand.
“This will start with analysis of the plant-based protein sector in Thailand [before moving to] other alternative proteins such as insect-based, cultivated meat or fermentation.”
Labelling suggestions
Among its suggestions, the Thai FDA said product names ‘must be specified in the Thai language’, and while additional English descriptions will be allowed, this must be consistent with the Thai labelling.
While it is not suggesting totally banning nomenclature more commonly associated with meaty or dairy products (for example, words like nuggets, bacon, tenders, mince, patties, milk, and cheese), it must be totally clear that these items are made from plant-based ingredients and not meat.
So, calling an item ‘milk made from almonds, or plant-based patties would be allowed under the legislation. What would be banned would include what the FAD describes as ‘words that will cause consumers confusion or to misunderstand the product to be made from meat’. This, it says, means that terms which specify which type of animal the product comes from (i.e. beef or pork and so on) would be banned. So vegan pork sausages would be prohibited, but vegan sausages would be allowed.
In addition, imagery suggesting a product contains ingredients derived from what is shown in the image would be banned. In practice, this means vegan nuggets could not come in a package featuring a photo of a chicken.
Original source: https://www.veganfoodandliving.com
https://www.animalagricultureclimatechange.org/french-meat-labels/
