A Vancouver Vegan Cheese shop has been told to stop using the word ‘Cheese’ on its website or face legal action from The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Regulations governing what can and cannot be called Cheese in Canada are pretty specific and, perhaps, overly restrictive…
Blue Heron Vegan ‘Cheeses’: The absence of Dairy content is clear enough…
Blue Heron Creamery in Vancouver has been doing a roaring business in its non-dairy ‘Cheeses’, but the CFIA says it’s received complaints that the store’s website may be confusing to consumers. Why? Because the word ‘Cheese’ is used to describe products that don’t contain any dairy ingredients. And using the word ‘Cheese’ is, arguably, a breach of the Canadian Food and Drug Regulations Act.
Blue Heron founder Karen McAthy asked The Globe and Mail: “If vegan cheese-alternative companies cannot use cheese proper, and by the CFIA’s own regulations on phonetic pronunciation, the word cheese, what can we use?” Adding: “I knew this would eventually be an issue.”
Just one aspect of a bigger issue…
McCathy isn’t alone in her lament. Labelling and advertising regulations governing Vegetarian alternatives to Dairy and Meat products, that have come into force across the western world over the past couple of years, may seem extremely – even overly – harsh to casual observers. But that’s because the conventional Meat and Dairy industries have powerful lobbies and they want to protect their ‘brands’.
U.S. Cattlemen last year even pushed their government to require that lab-grown proteins – which are biologically the same as conventionally raised and slaughtered cattle – be labelled ‘NOT MEAT’.
In France, the government has banned the use of product names which may suggest that Meat Alternatives or Vegan products are actually Meat.
Overreaction?
Pressure on governments by agriculture groups fearful of losing business to new, upstart Vegetarian and Lab-grown products may appear a valid tactic on its surface. But I think traditional Meat and Dairy producers have overreacted to persistent media reports about the soaring popularity of Vegan and Lab-grown alternatives.
And their demands for restrictive labelling and naming are predicated on the possibility that consumers will be confused or fooled outright by non-specific product naming.
However, a 2018 survey of American consumers by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) found that less than 10 percent of those asked believed that plant-based Milks and Cheeses contain any Dairy products at all, and 75 percent were certain that products labelled ‘Vegan’ do not contain any dairy Milk.
The IFIC concluded that the survey showed, “a low level of consumer confusion over nomenclature and basic differences between the two’.
Purely political…
Given the facts, methinks the conventional Dairy and Meat industry players protesteth overmuch. I’ll have more sympathy for them when – and if – new evidence emerges showing that their businesses are actually being hurt by the emergence of alternative products in their traditional markets.
~ Maggie J.