In 2021, Australian Senator Susan McDonald â former owner of meat retailer Super Butcher â chaired an inquiry where she pushed for the introduction of alt meat labelling restrictions. The aim of the proposed laws was to prevent plant-based producers from using meat-like terms such as âbeefâ and âchickenâ.
The inquiry followed lobbying from the Australian Red Meat Advisory Council, which claimed that meat alternatives were using terms that misled consumers. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission sided with the plant-based industry, but despite this, the inquiry published results in 2022 recommending that labelling restrictions be introduced.
Now, over 18 months later, the Australian meat industry has expressed frustration that the restrictions have not yet been made law. Cattle Australia interim CEO Adam Coffey told Beef Central that plant-based producers were âexploitingâ meat standards and that there was âno reason for the Government to hold this upâ. He said that following the results of the inquiry, it was âtime to get on with the jobâ.
However, the Federal Department of Agriculture has published a document saying that alt meat labelling is âa complex issue with diverse viewsâ, and that changes need to be approached holistically. The department said it was now seeking industry views on the potential impact of the restrictions. Senator McDonald told Beef Centralâs podcast that progress towards making the inquiry recommendations law had been âvery slowâ.
Is alt meat labelling confusing?
While the meat lobby often cites consumer confusion as a reason why labelling restrictions are necessary, research fails to support this. Last year, a survey found that 96% of Australian consumers had never mistakenly bought a meat alternative, and over two-thirds (67%) of the remaining 4% admitted that they had not properly read the label.
In 2021, Allen Zelden â president of digital eco-conscious forum FUTUREVVORLD â told Inside FMCG that the use of meat-like terms is essential to communicate how a plant-based product is intended to be used. He said that âRemoving familiar terminology can only lead to consumer turmoil, not transparencyâ.
Furthermore, Zelden argued that concern for the consumer was not the genuine motivator behind the proposed restrictions; rather, he said the meat industry felt threatened by the growing popularity of plant-based foods. This is supported by recent research showing that the Australian alt protein industry has grown tenfold over the past few years.
âGiven the explosive growth trajectory for the Australian plant-based food category, the meat, seafood, and poultry sectors are undoubtedly motivated to stifle this growth so as to protect their commercial interests before that of the consumer,â Zelden told Inside FMCG.
Source: Vegconomist.com