LUXEMBOURG (CN) - It’s not butter — believe it. The European Court of Justice took a no-nonsense approach to vegan-food substitutes Wednesday, barring companies from using terms like “cheese” or “cream” on nonanimal products.
The dispute behind Wednesday’s ruling originated in Germany where regulators that battle unfair competition brought an action against a vegan-foods company called TofuTown.com.
With TofuTown arguing that no modern-day consumer would think that “rice spray cream” came from a cow, the regional court in Germany sought guidance from the European Union’s highest authority, the Court of Justice.
(More news about the day's other EU decisions continue below this article.)
In its ruling Wednesday, the court said that dairy products alone, meaning products derived from milk, can be designated as cream, chantilly, butter, buttermilk, cheese, whey or yogurt.
The court noted that the regulations are meant to serve “the interest of producers, traders and consumers, to protect consumers and to maintain conditions for allowing competition.”
“In the absence of such limits, those designations would not enable products with the particular characteristics related to the natural composition of animal milk to be identified with certainty, which would be contrary to the protection of consumers because of the likelihood of confusion which would be created,” the ruling continues. “That would also be contrary to the objective of improving the economic conditions for production and marketing and the quality of ‘milk’ and ‘milk products.’”
Vegan Society spokeswoman Dominika Piasecka questioned this reasoning in a statement on the ruling.
“Realistically speaking, how likely is it that someone buys a carton of soya milk and think it's dairy milk,” asked Piasecka, whose group is based in the United Kingdom.
Noting that Great Britain has over half a million vegans, Piasecka said that the demand for animal-free products is on the rise.
"There's no denying that the meat, dairy and egg industries are feeling threatened, and this court case is a desperate move to try to restrict the marketing of vegan products,” she added.
The ruling includes a few clarifications, such as, if the milk product in question is not from a cow, the animal species that it is from must be stated.
A cream designation also is permitted in certain conditions, namely if the term is designating the texture of the product.
Evolving consumer demand, technical progress or the need for product innovation could bring these laws under scrutiny, but the court said this must be left to the European Commission.