Non-meat non-debate: The government should stop taking us for idiots

Sometimes I wonder if government thinks that we are complete idiots.

Over the last few weeks I could not find my favourite “Beyond Burger” patties. Although I’m not strict about it, I eat mostly vegetarian when given a choice. So, these vegan patties make a tasty alternative for braais.

On investigation, it turns out that the shipments of these imported products were cancelled because the department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development threatened to remove all plant-based products which have meat related names (or as they call it “meat analogues”) from supermarket shelves.

In a letter to processors, importers and retailers of these products in June this year, the department stated that plant based products “must not use the product names prescribed and reserved for processed meat products”. They also instructed the Food Safety Agency to seize these products.

In an interview, a departmental spokesperson said that it was to avoid consumer confusion.

This really annoyed me.

Are they seriously suggesting that consumers aren’t clever enough to know the difference between “vegan veggie biltong” and beef biltong? I mean you have to be seriously stupid to believe that “plant-based meatballs”, “vegan BBQ ribs”, “vegan nuggets” or “chorizo and red pepper vegetarian sausages” derive from animals. (These are all names mentioned in the department’s notice.)

Apart from the wording on the packaging, these products are usually found in separate, clearly labelled fridges and also cost almost double the animal equivalent. So, any regular meat eater would surely suspect that something is not quite right when their usual hamburger patties suddenly cost R60 or more each.

Even if someone does not read the labelling or the price and buys one of these products by accident, what’s the worst that can happen? They might just discover that they like these meat alternatives.

People with serious food allergies would (and should) read labels as a matter of course. In any case, these alternatives have been around for years and I have never heard of someone dying from a vegan patty because they mistook it for meat.

One also has to wonder if they are now also going to ban “fruit mince” because people might think it is meat?

Apart from being seriously ridiculous, the department has jumped the gun. According to experts, the current regulations specifically excludes the plant-based sector and the department has yet to publish regulations about plant-based labelling, which has been a difficult issue, globally.

Even the French, who are particularly sensitive about the naming of food products, gave up on trying to ban these names.

It is also important to note that the department is out of step with the government’s commitment of reducing emissions related to climate change.

“The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5°C World”, a study by academics at Leeds University, Arup and C40  argues that changing our diets to a more plant-based diet and reducing our individual meat consumption “has the greatest potential for emissions reductions” in terms of overall consumption patterns.

They found that emissions associated with food accounted for about 13% of  consumption-based emission in C40 cities (which includes our big cities) and 75% of that come from animal-based foods. 

Many other reports have come to the same conclusions.

Of course, this is not a popular position with the meat, dairy and egg industry and I suspect that they are playing a big role in the department’s reaction to the plant based products.

However, if the government is serious about climate change (and people’s health), they should encourage people to eat a more plant-based diet and reduce their meat intake, rather than sending in the food police to seize these “offensive” articles from supermarket shelves.

The plant-based industry had to go to court last week to prevent the removal of their products off supermarket shelves. They will head back to court in November if the matter is not resolved.

I really trust that sanity will prevail and that instead of wasting more tax-payers’ money, the department will stop taking us for idiots and rather focus on the many real issues facing the agriculture and food industries.