Exclusive: Manufacturers tell European Commission proposed ban would cause unnecessary confusion

More than a dozen food companies have urged the European Commission not to ban the use of words such as “sausage” and “burger” for non-meat products.

  • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.orgEnglish
    854·
    7 天前

    But such a ban is needed. Urgently.

    They want to lie? They even think that their business depends on such lies? Then the market will eliminate them anyway, and nobody is going to mourn them.

      • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
        827·
        7 天前

        I actually did have vegan “fish” by accident once. Ordered normal fish and chips, but they called the vegan stuff Vish, so it was easy to get mixed up. It was quite the disappointment (I immediately tasted that this was not fish).

        I don’t understand why people keep insisting that it has to be called a burger or a sausage. With a burger - OK, I kind of see that we’ve already muddied the waters on what can be called a burger, but a sausage? That has just about always been with meat until recently, and obviously for many people that’s part of the definition. Why can’t we just call it something else if the core element of what makes it a thing is absent? (And why do we even have to try to recreate meat by processing vegan stuff until what it used to be is unrecognizable? There’s so much more to vegan coming than that…)

        • MaggiWuerze@feddit.orgEnglish
          284·
          7 天前

          The core element of a sausage is not, that it is made from meat. Its the shape and structure, namingly “Ground up things stuffed into a thin tube, then cooked, smoked or grilled”.

          There have been so many changes even before adding being vegetarian to the mix.

          Most sausage you buy nowadays is no longer made with pig intestines. Does that bother you as well?

          There was also sausage that was not made from meat before or only contained very little, Luke Pinkel or Grützwurst

          • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.orgEnglish
            519·
            7 天前

            The core element of a sausage is not, that it is made from meat.

            Wrong. Simply wrong.

          • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
            58·
            7 天前

            Traditionally, yes, it is that it is made from meat. Even most dictionaries will back that up. Even vegan “sausages” will try to make the contents taste like meat (the keyword is in my experience “try”), which kind of proves the point.

            And yes, most sausages aren’t made from intestine anymore, but if you want a really good one - it still is, and there’s an argument to be made that it isn’t an authentic traditional sausage if it isn’t. To be fair, though, the intestine isn’t central to the taste, it’s more of a functional thing. The filling isn’t.

            And I’m not sure you understand what Grützwurst is, then - the base is still meat.

        • Runwaylights@lemmy.worldEnglish
          102·
          7 天前

          While I agree that there is much more to vegan than just meat replacements, and personally I don’t care what they call it. There are a couple of arguments for recreating meat:

          1. It sells. And in this world: if it sells, people will keep making it.
          2. Being vegetarian, vegan or someone who wants to cut back on their meat eating, doesn’t mean that they don’t like the taste and feel of meat. Some might do it for the environment or animal suffering. But they still like that meat taste and want a replacement.
          3. One does not exclude the other: you can have both meat replacements and non meat looking vegan stuff. Which there are BTW
          4. Its funny: especially the vegetarian butcher has some clever wordplays
          5. Live and let live I guess
          • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
            51·
            7 天前

            Fair enough. I guess it just often bothers me that I’ll be somewhere, and the choice I get is between meat and something that tries to be meat. I’ve tried the latter a number of times and always been disappointed. Which often ends up preventing me from reducing my meat consumption, because if I don’t want something masquerading as meat, well then there’s nothing other than meat.

            • Runwaylights@lemmy.worldEnglish
              4·
              7 天前

              Oh yes that is a real issue. It is hard sometimes to get a good vegan/vegetarian meal. I just want something original, not another goat cheese salad or a burger.

        • Teacrumble@feddit.orgEnglish
          81·
          6 天前

          For the Vish 'n Chips, I fully agree. If the names are too easily mixed up, then it should be changed, 100%.

          But just using the word burger or sausage as part of the productname shouldn’t be banned. As long as you put a clear descriptive of the kind of sausage in front of it like veggie sausage or quorn sausages. If you gave people a sausage, and when they bite into it they find out its chicken sausage or even blood sausage, would their outrage not be equally valid, since they expected a normal pork sausage?

          And why do we even have to try to recreate meat by processing vegan stuff until what it used to be is unrecognizable?

          Isn’t that basically what the traditional sausage was as well, made from blended scrap parts and organs? Minced meat on its own is processing the meat of an animal until it is unrecognizable

          • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
            1·
            6 天前

            Minced meat on its own is processing the meat of an animal until it is unrecognizable

            Not quite. It’s to use the leftovers, and also to preserve them to a certain extent. The leftovers can often be tough, so it’s ground. What doesn’t change is that the flavor of the meat is still very present. It’s not trying to taste like something different, which the vegan “sausage” is.

        • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          61·
          6 天前

          We’ve had veggie sausages (the non meat replacement kind) for a very fucking long time. Definitely more than 30 years. Why is the term so precious now?

        • voidemu@feddit.orgEnglish
          31·
          6 天前

          There have been vegan sausages for years. It’s just recently developed a hype. And they also where called sausages for literally decades.

        • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.worldEnglish
          32·
          7 天前

          So you didn’t do your due diligence as a restaurant patron to find out exactly what you were ordering, and somehow that means others are to blame?

          I can’t fathom sincerely making such an argument. You saw a strange name, didn’t ask questions, ordered it, and got disappointed.

          Okay, now I know that sounds awfully confrontational, but it’s a harsh truth that we as consumers need to do our own due diligence when making purchases. If something seems off, I’d implore you (and everyone else reading this) to investigate it, for your own sake and safety. We live in a world that’s ready to swindle every one of us at any given chance - no matter what kind of product we’re looking at.

          • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
            2·
            6 天前

            For me that comes down to the same argument as “didn’t you read the fine print?” If I spent time researching the due diligence you’re expecting, I would have time for nothing else anymore.

            And I didn’t order wrong, they misunderstood me, because it was so confusing.

        • Runwaylights@lemmy.worldEnglish
          113·
          7 天前

          By that same arguments you could also call meat lobby the fraudsters. They’re the ones whining, moaning and lobbying to the European parliament to get the ban in order. In stead of using regular sales tactics.

          • hakase@lemmy.zipEnglish
            32·
            6 天前

            Note that they will still be able to sell them though. The products are allowed - they just won’t be allowed to mislead consumers anymore. I really don’t understand why y’all are getting so up in arms about this.

    • rants_unnecessarily@piefed.socialEnglish
      245·
      7 天前

      A sausage is a sausage, no matter what you stuff inside it. It’s the shape, use and all the practicalities of a sausage that determine that it’s a sausage.

      When I hear “sausage” I know what to do with the thing. I can’t know what it includes.
      Beef? Pork? Chicken? Horse? Peas? Beans? Mushroom? Tofu? That’s to be determined by the other words on the package.

      • isgleas@lemmy.mlEnglish
        5·
        7 天前

        A sausage is a sausage, no matter what you stuff inside it

        That is limited to english vocabulary I guess. In spanish there are distictions between salchichas, chorizos, longanizas, etc, and all of them are their own kind of “embutidos”. So in spanish, it would make sense to name it “embutido de guisantes”

        Similarly with milk. I know you may milk nuts (jk), but not the “frutos secos” kind. How would you milk an oatmeal? A grain of rice?

        • rants_unnecessarily@piefed.socialEnglish
          73·
          7 天前

          And this is about the English word in the English use, with English rules, so let’s stick to those, shall we.

          Milk is another word with another angle. The connotation is no longer, in everyday layman use, connected to “something you get out of a teet” and instead it is what children drink, you put in cereals or coffee, etc.

          That’s the beauty about languages, they evolve with the needs of the populace that uses them.

          We no longer live in an agrarian society, so when somebody now speaks of milk, you don’t think, “what did they milk it from”, you think “what are they going to put that thing in that they bought from a shop”.

        • Che Banana@beehaw.orgEnglish
          1·
          7 天前

          To answer the last they’re labeled:

          Bebida de Soja (avena, almendras etc), sometimes adding ‘for baristas’…but that’s only one brand.

          Soy Drink.

          No milk in the description at all, that’s just for the English.

          • isgleas@lemmy.mlEnglish
            1·
            7 天前

            No milk in the description at all, that’s just for the English.

            My point exactly. We need to differentiate between products. An “embutido” is not the same as a “fiambre” for example, even when you find both kind of “salchichas”

            Also, this being an EU ruling proposal, it should meet the specs for all members, and english is only a fraction of the official spoken languages

            But sure, I guess we all milk nuts every now and then ;) (this i is intended as a light hearted joke, you nuts)

    • CXORA@aussie.zoneEnglish
      123·
      7 天前

      Its not a lie… thats how people know and name the item. In fact this ban would punish people using natural established names for things thst have been in use for decades. It is nonsensical.