France bans 'steak' and 'escalope' labels from vegetarian products

What a strange thing to be pedantic about

Meat industry lobbyists + corruption = stupid shit
Oh we're good at this. In the whole EU it's not allowed to print 'milk' or 'cheese' on something that doesn't contain actual animal's milk. Want to sell soy milk? Ok but don't call it that way...
- Except for coconut milk, because reasons.
- It's weird, since "milk" in English has included plant milk longer than the taxonomic definition of a "mammal" has existed.
- It actually is allowed for German "Scheuermilch" ("scouring cream", which is a cleaning detergent, literal translation: "scrubbing milk").
- Germany has a whole line of not milks, almost chicken, like chicken, *thun visch* and i can almost be certain i saw mjolk and moloko somehwere. I always chuckle a bit when i see it.
- I can tell you a little about how Germany does this and I think the rest of the EU & France should be similar. There is a government body defining what specific foods are and if your food doesn't match that, you can't name it like the food in question. And that does make sense - butter has to be made from milk and not some palm oil mixed together by shady businesses and milk has to come from an animal and can't be water & white paint.
  This does make sense and really protects the consumer. It does - however - really run into problems when dealing with those vegetarian meat replacements. It would make sense to sell a "vegetarian ham", but ham has an exact, legal definition and part of that definition is that ham has to contain meat.
- Sorry you are saying you can't call something that is not cheese 'cheese'? Preposterous.
It's almost as if words should mean something. Now do milk vs juice.
It isn't
You don't want to be tricked into eating something else than you intended. Even ignoring the whole value of eating meat argument, there is an allergy problem in play
And, I've noticed that vegetarian products are being hidden more and more insidiously over the years. It's intentionally misleading and potentially harmful
- No one ever bought vegan steak thinking it was meat. And calling it a vegan steak perfectly explains what kind of product you're looking at.
- And, I've noticed that vegetarian products are being hidden more and more insidiously over the years
  You're salty that mum hid peas in your dino nuggies

It's even dumber than you think:

Producers elsewhere in the European Union can continue to sell vegetarian food with meat names in France.

It's so incredibly dumb it's honestly amazing.

Wtf. Had to reread the article like 3 times to figure out the mental gymnastics
So if consumers don't understand the labels, then how is banning only French producers from using them in France going to help? They still have to read the labels from other areas in Europe...do they think the French companies will make more money if consumers aren't confused? So they're trying to stifle imported goods? That's the only thing I can think of lol i can't make it make sense
- There's no "thinking" happening. Only the convergence of two opposite things:
  French politicians wanted to please the meat industry;
  The EU free market has a strictly defined set of rules that essentially prevents member states from banning "EU-legal" stuff from being sold in their country (as I understand it – because in practice it's a very complex topic and the EU is not nearly as overbearing with its laws as "euroskeptics" tend to portray them, like when during COVID borders were completely closed despite far-right parties having spouted for years that Freedom of Movement meant the end of territorial sovereignty and what-have-you).
  Now the politicians got their headlines so they're happy, and in practice almost nothing changes for the consumer so they're mostly happy. Ah and the veggie producers get fucked in the process, but the politicians don't care and the consumers don't know or care.
  It's basically the dumb version of the current agricultural protests (the French farmers are pissed, among other things, that their products have to compete with "common EU market" products which were made using lots of cheap pesticides that would be illegal to use in France. Now to be fair it's not a 1-to-1 comparison because pesticide usage has profound health effects on local populations but you get the idea).
  Either way to avoid unfair treatment of local producers, the government has to either deregulate the industry to match the lowest common EU denominator, or to successfully lobby the EU to raise the requirements everywhere. Or I guess just treat producers unfairly and hope they'll be able to compete anyway.
- It's just the standard intersection between domestic and EU law when it comes to food labelling.
  E.g. if you want to sell stuff in Germany as beer that isn't beer according to German law then you can't brew it in Germany, it has to be imported and thus fall under common market rules.

This is so stupid and a collosal waste of time. Do they really feel people are just so stupid they can't figure their stuff out for themselves?

Also, and I cant stress this enough, they are just wrong.

Not in France, but as a meat eater I am starting to get annoyed at misleading labelling. Can I eventually figure out that what's in my hands in the supermarket aisle is some sort of meat substitute? Sure, I'd like not waste my time though and others might be in a rush, distracted or you know mislead.
Have you come up with a great new meat free product? Awesome, find a catchy new namenand market it, you don't need to piggy bag on steak or bacon that have a pretty specific meaning to consumers.
Also, are you a rabid vegan that hates everything meat related? Why would you want to buy and eat something called bacon?
Edit: also you are correct that this is a colossal waste of time. Customers time. France and other countries with a gastronomic culture like italy take food and food related frauds pretty seriously. And IMO they are right. Want to sell some new experimental shit? Be my guest, as a customer I should be able to opt in, not have to opt out.
- You seem to be a rabid meat eater that hates everything vegan related.
- I would like to buy something called bacon because I like bacon? You can like meat and still be vegan. Most vegans are vegan because of animal cruelty and climate impact, not because they hate meat. I can only speak for my country, but here such products are all on the same shelf and are clearly labeled as vegetarian/vegan. It makes sense to call it vegan bacon or vegan steak because it clearly imitates the meat product and I don't want to have to decipher what it's supposed to be first.
- Do you buy [generic animal steak] or do you buy cattle, bison, buffalo, camel, goat, horse, kangaroo, sheep, ostrich, pigs, turkey, or deer steak?
  People sometimes act like that the description of steak or milk (cow, human, goat, cat) is unambiguous. I have never seen plant based food which does not declare it like [plant based steak]
  I am all in for clear description of food and a big label if it contains animal suffering and the destruction of the eco system or if it is plant based. If you don't care which animal parts you buy as long as "meat" or "steak" is any death animal I think you are in the minority.
- Meat eaters are being opressed the same way as christians. This has to stop! Normal people can’t be mislead to make better dietary choices, they need their god given ability to excercise their rights in being a huge burden on the environment!
- Firstly I am a non meat eater confused when I am seeing steaks labelled as meat, which I expect to be describing nourishing food in general (https://www.etymonline.com/word/meat). Similarly I am confused seeing dairy milk labelled as just milk when I seek certain saps and other reagents for my alchemy.
  Secondly you obviously misunderstand what "rabid vegans" want or their goals. I am one, and I quite enjoy the taste of meat. I did not stop eating it because it was not pleasurable, I stopped eating it because I have worked in the processes that lead to it being neatly packaged in supermarkets and there is a rather alarming amount of suffering involved. So frankly I am very much interested in things that lack that suffering but taste the same, I would sacrifice my left hand to a dark god if it would lead to convincing crustacean flesh alternatives.
- I love meat and think that this rule is stupid. The metaphors are used to describe what taste and texture you might expect from a product, which makes sense especially for people who just switched and want to emulate the taste pallet they are used to.
- "Oh no! An animal wasn't killed to make this steak! Well, this was a waste of time and money."

No beefsteak tomatoes for you!

The politicians are trying to take away our steak!!1!

Makes sense. It's pretty weird and confusing when they sell them as meat products. Sometimes it feels like it's purposefully misleading.

It's going to have a big green V on it, i'm not sure how your confused by it and they usually in a different section anyway. I don't think I've ever seen meat and non meat products sold in the same aisle.
- I don't know if that's a mandated thing where you live but some products don't seem to have it on the top of the packaging (could have it on backside) and when they have it it is pretty small and in the corner, with the name of the product (the misleading part) and the picture taking up most space. And I've seen meat and non-meat products next to each other when it's ready to eat stuff, sometimes sausages.
  It seems so unnecessary. It's like they're embarrassed of the product or something.

ITT: Vegans with a chip on their shoulder demanding that stuff they want to buy be labelled the same as stuff they don't want to buy.

Next up: People demanding that meat be labelled cauliflower to fight fire with fire. I mean it's special meat engineered to have the texture and taste of cauliflower, why shouldn't it be labelled cauliflower?

I have never seen a plant based product labeled the same as a animal product. What I see is is [Beef steak] or [Plant based Steak made from..]
Vegan products have a clear label on them and they want you to know that it plant based because people buy it for that reason, be it to avoid animal cruelty, the destruction of the environment or their own health.
- Vegan products have a clear label on them
  And why shouldn't meat products have a clear label?
I don't think people want products to be labeled as meat products when they're not meat products that would be confusing.
But what's the problem in a vegetarian product in the style of a steak? Like maybe you don't want it but who cares?
- So you're saying that mislabelling would be confusing, but if it affects me but not you you don't care.
The problem is precisely that nobody has an interest in mislabeling animal product alternatives, but these policies create the impression that the problem they claim to solve is real. This is nothing but useless bureaucracy and a PR stunt for the animal product industry, disguised as consumer protection.
- The problem is precisely that nobody has an interest in mislabeling animal product alternatives
  You haven't read the comments, have you. Tons and tons of purported reasoning of why saitan should be called steak.
It had to be labeled meat cauliflower and seems to be reasonable to call it that way. But wait till you hear about coconut milk or even worse meat-cheese (Leberkäs/Fleischkäse - traditional german sausage with no cheese what so ever).
- It's a stupid comment anyway because no one would ever label cauliflower as anything but cauliflower.