We’re just trying to ensure a level playing field for plant-based meats...People want cruelty-free sausage.
'Plant-based protein' is at the center of a linguistic and legal battle
between producers of beef and plant-based alternatives - Nina Firsova /
Shutterstock
Fried chicken, bacon cheeseburgers and pepperoni pizza aren’t uncommon to
see on vegan menus — or even the meat-free freezer section of your local
supermarket — but should we be calling these mock meat dishes the same
names? A new Missouri law doesn’t think so. The state’s law, which forbids
“misrepresenting a product as meat that is not derived from harvested
production livestock or poultry,” has led to a contentious ethical, legal
and linguistic debate. Four organizations — Tofurky, The Good Food
Institute, the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Animal
Legal Defense Fund — are now suing the state on the basis that not only is
the law against the United States Constitution, but it favors meat producers
for unfair market competition.
While some newly formulated meat-free products, like the plant-based Beyond
Burger or its rival the Impossible Burger (the veggie burger that “bleeds”),
may be deceptively meat-like, it’s hard to understand how consumers could
actually be duped into thinking non-meat products are legitimately meat.
“The law violates constitutional right to free speech,” explains Animal
Legal Defense Fund attorney Amanda Howell. “It’s wide in scope, vague, broad
and problematic. An ordinary person can’t tell you what this law is about.”
Although legal jargon is often hard for the typical non-attorney to
understand, Howell explains that one thing is easy for the everyday
American: distinguishing plant-based meat-like products from actual meat. To
date, there are zero consumer complaints on file in Missouri of shoppers
confusing meat-like products with actual meat, according to Howell and the
Animal Legal Defense Fund.
Missouri currently produces the third-highest amount of beef cattle in the
US (preceded by Oklahoma, and Texas at the top spot), and the beef industry
is threatened by imitation meat products, proven to be better for the
environment (though Beef Magazine attempts to negate climate science) and
sometimes healthier than animal-derived red meat. As food science disrupts
what people think of as “meat,” the future of the livestock industry may be
endangered, and that’s a threat to ranchers.
Legally, there’s no reason why fake sausage or imitation turkey can’t be
labeled as such. Under the Consumer Protection Law, as long as a product’s
statement of identity is “truthful and not misleading, it’s legal,” says
Howell. This statement of identity informs consumers of what’s inside a
package and can help inform them of how to use and eat a product. “Consumers
would be more confused if they were not able to use meat-related
terminology,” Howell says. “It’s pretty obvious that they’re taking away the
terminology so consumers won’t know what the products are, and they’ll sound
less appealing.” Vegan sausage is understandable; seasoned soy patties, not
so much. “Consumers should have access to truthful information, clearly
labeled [foods], instead of taking away naming conventions just because an
industry is scared,” Howell says.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which takes a staunchly
anti-meat stance, also stands behind using meat terms and “letting the terms
‘steak’ and ‘sausage’ evolve with the times,” according to Ben Williamson,
PETA’s senior international media director.
“The meat industry is going up against a public that is learning that eating
meat is responsible for tremendous animal abuse, linked to diabetes,
strokes, heart disease and cancer, and is an environmental nightmare,”
Williamson said. “Healthy, ethical and 100-percent humane, vegan products
are a booming market, and lawmakers’ time and efforts would be better served
helping transition meat producers into vegan companies.”
Linguistically, calling plant-based meat “meat” is not necessarily an issue
in English. “If we go back to what meat used to mean, it referred to food in
general,” says linguist Carrie Gillon. “In about 1300, the definition
changed to mean animal flesh food.” But even though the definition of “meat”
narrowed centuries ago, that doesn’t mean it can’t also be used more
generally as language evolves. Gillon uses prototype theory to explain this
— that is, the theory that each noun we use has a prototype. If you think of
a bird, you may think of a wren, but a penguin is also very much a bird — it
just doesn’t share all the characteristics of a stereotypical bird, like
flying. This theory could also apply to meat, or non-meat meat: When we
think of meat, we think animal flesh, but why not expand the definition to
foods that share characteristics with meat, like the meat of a peach,
perhaps, or ground tofu that mimics ground beef?
“As long as the food has something in common with meat, like texture or
taste, it makes total sense to extend the word meat to plant-based
proteins,” Gillon says, noting that this wouldn’t work, say, with just a
block of tofu, but anything that has something in common with our prototype
of meat.
For vegetarians like food blogger Lori Nelson, meat-free foods named after
their animal counterparts are preferred, for clarity. “Labels like ‘vegan
chicken’ save me time because I don’t eat meat. If it’s labeled ‘vegan
chicken,’ I don’t have to worry about it being actual chicken,” she
explains. Plus, for vegetarians who have previously eaten meat, or at least
seen meat in media, these mock products’ names provide a clearer idea of
what they will taste like.
“We’re just trying to ensure a level playing field for plant-based meats,”
says Howell. “People want cruelty-free sausage.”
Melissa Kravitz Melissa Kravitz is a writer based in New York. She is a writing fellow at Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute. She's written for Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Glamour, AlterNet, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, Architectural Digest, Them and other publications. She holds a Bachelor's degree in creative writing from Columbia University and is also at work on a forthcoming novel.
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