Page 11 - National Poultry Newspapaper

Law to stop vegan food protein labelled as meat
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FALSE labelling and marketing by plant-based protein producers have Australian farmers con- cerned.
Cattle Council chief executive officer Travis Tobin said: “It's illegal to make use of someone else's trademark and the same should go for highly processed products that try to mimic beef.”
for traditional food pro- ducers, Minister Little- proud said, “I want all of our agricultural industries to grow and succeed, and for this to happen we need a fair playing field on food labelling.
The use of words such as beef, pork, chicken and meat used prominently on vegan food product labels, along with the designa- tions of mince and milk have come into question.
The council has asked Food Standards Australia New Zealand to investi- gate the food labelling is- sue.
“I am sympathetic to concerns from producers of genuine meat and dairy products who are forced to contend with highly crea- tive, and sometimes mis- leading, advertising and labelling of plant-based foods and drinks.”
The Texas Meat and Imi- tation Food Act in the US is set to become law and could be followed by Aus- tralia introducing similar labelling legislation.
A letter sent to the fed- eral government by several peak red meat industry bodies called for the ban of any plant-based prod- uct labelling referring to animal flesh and the use of livestock images in pack- aging or marketing mate- rial.
Minister Littleproud was clear that the labelling debate was not attacking ‘fake’ meat and milk.
The legislation would also apply to lab-grown or cellular meat when it hits the market and could even encompass terms such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’.
The Red Meat Advisory Council is adamant chang- es are needed to differenti- ate between real meat and manufactured meatless products.
“On the contrary, I am confident that the mas- sive demand for protein presents huge opportuni- ties for all food producers, and I remain committed to giving our growers greater opportunities to be part of the globally thriving plant- based industry,” Minister Littleproud said.
The key issues are truth in labelling and food safety standards, and that processes are in place to reach similar outcomes in Australia.
Red Meat Advisory Council chair John Mc- Killop said, “It is clear the sector has continued a deliberate strategy to un- fairly trade on the repu- tation of Australia's meat and livestock industries.”
Australian consumers deserve full disclosure as to the contents of a product and its production process.
The minister added that
Though currently hold- ing less than a 1 percent share in the market, the labelling of alternative proteins needs to be fair and clear.
while there was room for
There is an obvious re- quirement for plant-based alternative proteins and while it is only a small sec- tor, it is a growing sector.
Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Manager David Little- proud hosted a roundta- ble between government and industry stakeholders in September 2020 to dis- cuss the labelling of plant- based products.
fairly trade on the reputa-
both in the food industry
sector, neither could un-
tion of the other.
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Stakeholders in the Aus- tralian food industry are keen to hear if the Texas Meat and Imitation Food Act will be passed.
One objective of the meeting was to ensure the packaging of plant-based protein alternatives was “clear, truthful and accu- rate for Australian con- sumers.”
Recently, Australian Dairy Farmers urged the federal government to pro- hibit the use of the word milk by plant-based prod- ucts such as cashew, al- mond, rice and soy milk and the Cattle Council of Australia wants the word beef kept to products that contain real beef.
The priority then was “to
CY
US politicians are debating laws to stop alternative proteins being called meat.
ensure that the food-label-
ling system has integrit
y
so that our food producing,
and manufacturing sectors
thrive into the future.” Though the process was
criticised as being biased
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National Poultry Newspaper, June 2021 – Page 11
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