The measure was introduced by French conservative lawmaker Celine Imart, who argued it would prevent confusion with traditional meat products.
The measure was introduced by French conservative lawmaker Celine Imart, who argued it would prevent confusion with traditional meat products.
I don’t understand how people could get confused?
Veggies/Vegans don’t often accidentally buy meat because they’re confused by the packaging
Does it just boil down to most being thick as (veggie) mince?
People aren’t confused. It’s the meat industry who feel threatened by plant based products as they rise in popularity, and the meat industry has a lot of power and influence. This is their sad move to fight against plant based alternatives.
If the packaging were labeled “vegan”, quite a number of them would. And happily pay three times as much for it as regular customers.
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I bought lasagna at Picard, was no meat in it.
I didn’t expect that as lasagna is made with meat.
The sign that it was vegetarian was very dull and not very visible.
I really don’t understand why people think that’s okay, I mean capitalism trying to sell anything is a thing by deception (I hate that) but why call a pasta plate “lasagna” when it is missing a crucial ingredient?
I don’t really care but you must be joking if you don’t understand why people are annoyed by it.
Your story largely hinges on this subjective description. I’ve personally never seen a product that is a vegan/vegetarian alternative of something and does not center its whole branding/appearance around that.
Lasagna is a broad term for many a dish. You’re probably thinking of Lasagna al forno, made with Ragu alla bolognese, which normally contains minced beef. If it just says Lasagna it could be any kind of casserole with the typical pasta sheets called Lasagna.
I have. It’s become more common. I see the same for gluten free and vegan etc products.
I assume some good tasting products get avoided as people assume they are inferior due to alternative ingredients so they downplay it in the hope that their market share grows. Obviously, those looking for those products will be on the lookout for the label.
It’s capitalism, still. You get a product you didn’t want by deception that is legal.
Hot deal incoming! Gluten free water! Only 50€ the bottle! Limited offer buy now!
The thing is, people following health fads or fashionable food hypes often don’t think, so you can sell them the most mundane stuff for the most outrageous amounts of money with some clever labeling.
I responded to Tomtits who can’t understand how people can get confused.
You responded with the definition of lasagna…
Fact is, meat is expensive and meatless products are cheaper to produce. You could very easily see a company making meatless versions of products just to increase margins, and then saying “it’s vegetarian” as a defence when confronted.
Clear labelling stops that and helps the consumer stay informed about what they are buying. Vegetarian products don’'t have their reputation dragged through the mud by deceptive companies. Everybody wins except those who try to deceive.
Clear labelling and vegetarian sausage not being allowed to be called “sausage” are two different things though.
The EU could easily introduce labelling requirements that indicate whether a product contains meat or not, and even what kind of meat if we wanted that. We could standardize that just like we standardized the Nutriscore label.
Edit: In fact, I’d love to be able to see at a glance whether a meat replacer is soy or mushroom based.
EU already has lots of protected terms on food. Certain food types can only use the protected term if they meet some criteria (e.g. minimum content level or location of manufacture). I expect this is just trying to use the existing legal mechanism by adding “sausage” and “burger” and nothing more sinister.
I think your ideas for labelling are all good though.
The issue I have with that though is that “sausage” and “burger” are extremely generic terms.
I don’t think it makes sense to protect them in the same way that we protect “brie” or something like that.
There isn’t even one type of burger or sausage, as they can be made from any kind of meat (beef, chicken, pork, etc). We then differentiate by calling them a “chicken sauage” or a “pork sausage”. Why would “vegetarian/plant-based sausage” be any different?
I would just label it as: “Veggie-Product that looks like Burger” 😂
“The veggie-product formerly known as Burger”
Lasagna is not necessarily made with meat. Lasagna is a type of layered pasta dish with ingredients between the layers of pasta.
A vegetarian lasagna is equally a lasagna as one with minced beef in it.
While I agree that deceptive marketing is an issue, the real issue here is the fact that it was not labelled clearly enough that it was a product without meat. The fact that the vegetarian option can be legally be labelled lasagna isn’t really the problem.
Similarly, in my opinion, sausage and burger are just a description of the shape the product comes in and what it can be used for.
A sausage or a burger is agnostic to what kind of ingredients go in it. There are beef sausages, pork sausages, chicken sausages,… and vegetarian sausages. A vegetarian sausage is still a sausage, because it comes in the shape of a sausage and you use it in the same way as you would a sausage. As long as it’s labelled clearly as vegetarian so that there is no confusion I do not see the issue with it being labelled a sausage.
Worth noting that I do think this is a different issue from using the names of specific cuts of meat, which is what the discussion was about a few years ago. A steak refers to a specific cut from a cow, so a vegetarian steak is not a steak in my opinion, and should not be called a steak on the packaging.
It would appear that the reason why they are currently discussing a ban on using the term sausage and burger for vegetarian products, is not because calling a veggie sausage a sausage is something people have a serious problem with, but rather because the meat lobby wants to kill the meat replacer industry.
Cheese lasagna is totally a thing though. In fact, it’s a damn tasty thing. Hell, I eat probably more meat than I should, and I will absolutely choose cheese lasagna over meat lasagna at least half of the time. You just failed to read the packaging.
Veggie burgers and sausages are plainly labeled. If you can read, and you bother to do so, you really can’t accidentally end up with them. Though, some of them are mighty tasty. Maybe you should broaden your culinary experience a little. It’s easier if you take the stick out of your ass.
A proper lasagna has cheese and meat …
Tell that to my great aunt who came to the US from Italy in '53. Be ready to dodge the spoon talkin that nonsense.
Well, she’s gonna have to take that up with my Italian coworker who wholeheartedly agrees with my statement.
🤣
Alright, a slightly better anecdote!
I can go to almost any restaurant listing on just-eat and they will offer a dish named “Lasagna”. And it will be Lasagna Bolognese every single time. There are some more fancy restaurants that offer different kinds, but they will be described as such.
At least in central Europe, if you order Lasagna without any more specifications, you’ll get meat and cheese.
Yes, if you only eat in restaurants your choices will be limited. I have, on the other hand, been allowed to look through cookbooks older than you and I put together, which contained multiple different recipes for lasagna and only 2 of those recipes contain meat. Why do you choose to die on such a wrong and useless hill?
You’re the type of person giving vegetarians a bad reputation.
Well, as not at all a vegetarian, I’m alright with that, but damn if you don’t sound like you have all the palate of a 10 year old.
Edit: and you can’t fucking read.
I responded to Tomtits who didn’t understand how people can get confused lol.
I didn’t say you were a vegetarian, and I’m the one who cannot read 😂🤣
What an insult btw “u kannoh read!!” “U palate (did you just learn a new word? Bravo!) is bad!!”
Lol
Fella, go back and look at the thread in context, replied to me or I would not have received a notification and replied to you.
I cook better than you, and I’d wager that my vocabulary is as superior to yours as my cooking.
Stating the truth is not making an insult.
🖕
Lentil pasta.