Written by Nicole Haworth, Senior Associate at Adams & Adams.
After much uncertainty as to the fate of veggie burgers and veggie sausages, the Department of Agriculture (the Department) has recently provided much needed clarity on the naming conventions for meat analogues.
Meat analogues are also known in South Africa and elsewhere around the world as meat substitutes or imitation meats. They are foods that approximate the sensory qualities (which includes the primary texture and flavour) and/or the nutritional or chemical characteristics of a specific type of a meat product and are available in different forms such as coarse ground-meat analogues, emulsified meat analogues and loose fill. Their general appearance, presentation and intended use may also correspond to meat or a product made from meat. While this is the legal definition, quite simply, what meat analogue products are in ordinary parlance is plant-based meat alternatives that are suitable for a vegetarian, strict vegetarian and vegan lifestyle.
Back in April 2022, the Department announced its decision to develop regulations seeking to regulate meat analogue products sold in South Africa. At the time, the Regulations Regarding the Classification, Packing and Marking of Processed Meat Products intended for sale in the Republic of South Africa (the 2019 Meat Regulations) were in force and while product descriptors such as “hamburger” and “biltong” were not defined, the Department relying on the definition of “processed meat”, on 22 June 2022, issued a notice, notifying the plant-based industry, that the use of terms such as “hamburger” and “biltong” shall not be used in relation to meat analogue products. On 26 August 2022, the Regulations regarding the Classification, Packing and Marking of Certain Raw Meat Products intended for sale in the Republic introduced the first legal definitions of terms such as “raw burger”, “raw patty” and “raw hamburger patty”, “raw boerewors”, “raw braaiwors”, “raw banger” and “raw sizzler”. These definitions were used in an attempt to preclude the use of descriptors such as “banger” in relation to a plant-based meat alternative.
Further notices were issued, and it became clear that the Department, through its assignee, intended to seize, from supermarket shelves, meat analogue products described as “veggie burger”. Litigation, spearheaded by the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa, ensued and, following much consternation between the meat industry and plant-based meat alternatives industry, the Department has now finally published the Regulations Relating to Meat Analogues Intended For Sale in South Africa, R6436 (“the Veggie Regs”).
Despite this contentious history, the Veggie Regs appear to strike a reasonable compromise between the meat industry and the plant-based industry and foster a more inclusive position.
Firstly, the biggest and most welcome take away of the Veggie Regs is that terms such as burgers, sausages, bangers and grillers, of the plant-based persuasion, are back on the menu!
For the sake of completeness, the following prescribed names are listed in and allowed in terms of the Veggie Regs: “burger”, “patty”, “sausage”, “banger”, “griller”, “loaf”, “polony”, “mince”, “roast”, “schnitzel”, and product names according to shapes include “frikkadel”, “wheel”, “disc”, “nugget”, “roll” and “sizzler”.
In order to assist and enable consumers to determine the true nature and composition of a meat analogue, the Veggie Regs require that the prescribed name shall be preceded by a descriptive name, such as “plant-based”, “fungi-based, “mushroom-based”, “vegan”, “veggie” or “vegetarian” or a similar descriptive name. So, for example, if the product takes the form of “mince” that is made from soybeans, it may be called “soy mince”.
Unsurprisingly, the Veggie Regs expressly prohibit references to animal species names, animal morphology, anatomy cuts names (i.e. brisket, rib etc) and depictions, images and representations of animals on the containers of meat analogue products. Words or expressions such as “chicken-style” or “beef-style” or “chick’n” or “b*con”, or any similar words that refer to the name(s) of animal species and meat products are also prohibited.
While the Veggie Regs do make provision for flavoured meat analogues, it would appear to be contrary to the spirit and purport of the Veggie Regs to slip “with Pork flavouring” into the labelling mix.
Interesting, biltong is a term that is not on list of terms that may be used and is a term that is, at this stage, reserved for dried meat products.
In our view, the Veggie Regs offer a fair compromise between the two industries. This compromise not only seeks to protect consumers from misleading labelling in a reasonable manner but does not exclude vegetarians from participating in the braai with a veggie burger.
The article first appeared on the Adams & Adams website. Read it here.
Photo: Daniela Elena Tentis on Pexels
