The labelling of plant-based foods continues to present significant dilemmas for those working in the industry. Over the past couple of years, we have seen several countries make attempts to put stricter regulations in place around the use of certain words, such as those traditionally related to meat and dairy, to name plant-based food products.

Meanwhile, individual businesses have found themselves facing legal action due to their chosen wording across food product packaging. And elsewhere, new certifications have been developed in line with evolving consumer preferences around terminology and clean label concerns.

We explore the latest across the labelling landscape.

Plant-based victories for European countries in ‘meaty’ name battle

Several decrees in recent years have attempted to restrict the labelling of plant-based meat alternatives with traditionally ‘meaty’ words such as ‘ham,’ ‘sausage’ and ‘schnitzel,’ even when prefaced with ‘plant-based’. But the beginning of 2025 has already seen two European countries overturn these proposed laws in a win for the plant-based food industry.

At the end of January, France’s Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) annulled two decrees that would have seen French plant-based food producers penalised for the use of meaty terms, such as ‘steak,’ in the naming and labelling of plant-based protein products sold in the country. Had the ban been implemented, businesses could face fines of up to €7,500 if found to be in breach of regulations.

The Council of State suspended the decree, originally brought forward in 2022 and revised in February 2024, last April. It expressed ‘serious doubt’ about the legality of the proposed ban, stating that it would cause ‘serious and immediate harm’ to manufacturers that exclusively sell plant-based products in France.

A consultation with the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) saw the CJEU rule that EU law already provides sufficient regulations to protect consumers, and that the decree’s additional rules – determining how much vegetable protein could be in a product before it could be called by certain names – could not be permitted.

In accordance with this, the Council of State finalised its decision on 28 January, stating that the proposed restrictions would have been illegal and contrary to European regulations.

Additionally, late January saw the Czech minister of agriculture, Marek Výborný, confirm that similar proposed restrictions would no longer be introduced in Czechia.

Such restrictions were proposed as part of an amendment to a decree last year, attempting to introduce more strict definitions of food and dishes like ‘meatballs’ and ‘burgers’ and make it impossible for plant-based food producers to use these terms to name their products.

The minister said that restrictions would put unnecessary hurdles in place for Czech food companies, adding that consumers are competent and know what they are purchasing.

Martin Ranninger, co-director of industry organisation ProVeg Czechia, said: “We welcome minister Výborný’s decision to allow names like ‘sausage,’ ‘schnitzel,’ and ‘burger’ to continue being used for plant-based products. This decision reflects the opinions of both consumers and producers, and demonstrates that common sense has prevailed over industry pressure.”

He added: “Consumers know what they’re buying, and any changes to the labeling system would only create confusion… We hope that future regulations will prioritise the genuine needs of consumers over the narrow interests of specific sectors of the food industry.”

In the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) published the results of its own research last December, which found that participants rarely reported that they unintentionally purchased a plant-based alternative when they intended to purchase dairy or meat.

ProVeg International welcomed these developments, with Jasmijn De Boo, global CEO, commenting: “No one is confused by terms such as ‘plant-based steak’ and industry pressure to argue otherwise is a waste of time and resources. With these latest developments, it is time to put aside petty quarrels and focus on supporting societies, particularly in the industrialised world, in actively promoting greater consumption of healthy and sustainable plant-based food.”

Labelling lawsuits

We have also seen several food and beverage brands, including those within the plant-based space, facing lawsuits over the labelling of their products. This highlights the significance of decisions made around marketing terminology and ingredient labelling, which is becoming increasingly complex for brands in the sector.

In December 2024, after a lengthy court case, the UK Court of Appeal ruled that Swedish oat milk giant Oatly could not use the marketing slogan ‘Post Milk Generation’ on the labelling of its food and beverage products. This overturned a decision made by the High Court in 2023, permitting the brand to continue using the phrase.

Oatly first registered the slogan to be used across its food and beverage products, as well as on T-shirts, in 2019. The trademark was contested by dairy industry association Dairy UK, arguing that the use of the word ‘milk’ violated 2013 European Court regulations prohibiting the use of dairy-related words in the marketing of non-dairy products.

The British High Court of Justice originally ruled in December 2023 that the trademark could be used across all Oatly products, on the basis that the word ‘milk’ was not being used to describe the product itself and therefore would not be likely to confuse consumers.

But in a U-turn development a year later, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Dairy UK, reinforcing that dairy-free brands in the UK are prohibited from using the word ‘milk’ on their products, even in marketing slogans as opposed to the naming of the product itself.

Bryan Carroll, general manager for Oatly UK and Ireland, said: “Disappointingly, this ruling overturns the common sense we saw from the High Court [last year] when they ruled in our favour. Be under no illusion that making it harder to label and find dairy alternatives benefits the interests of Big Dairy and Big Dairy alone.”

He added: “[Big dairy’s] cynical attempts to stifle competition through legal action contradicts the interests of the British consumer, creates an uneven playing field for plant-based products and worst of all, it delays progress in shifting the public towards more sustainable diets”.

In the US, fungi-based meat alternatives brand Meati Foods faced two lawsuits filed in California and New York, based around the use of the term ‘mushroom root’ on the labels of its mycelium-based products.

Lawsuits alleged that Meati was falsely advertising its products as made from ‘mushroom root’ when they are made from Neurosporo crassa, a type of red mould. At the time of the first lawsuit – which has now been settled – Meati had already began to move away from its ‘mushroom root’ messaging, focusing instead on referring to the ingredient as simply ‘mycelium’. It has since updated its packaging and provides information about the specific type of Mycelium used on its website.

A similar lawsuit was filed against alt-meat giant Quorn back in 2016, accusing the company of misleading consumers by implying that its products were made from mushrooms. Quorn’s main mycoprotein ingredient is made from Fusarium venenatum, a type of fungus that grows in soil.

The case was settled under an agreement that saw Quorn required to add a disclosure to its product labels, stating: “Mycoprotein is a mould member of the fungi family. There have been rare cases of allergic reactions to products that contain mycoprotein.”

New certifications

Certifications such as the Vegetarian Society’s ‘Vegan’ and ‘Vegetarian Approved’ trademarks can help consumers to more easily identify products that align with their dietary needs.

However, the Vegetarian Society’s head of trademarks, Vanessa Brown, said developments in the marketplace have seen consumers seeking different terminology in recent years.

The organisation introduced a new ‘Plant-Based’ trademark last year, designed to be the ‘gold standard of plant-based accreditation’. Products using the trademark – which was developed with consultants after a year-long review of case law and the wider industry – must contain no animal ingredients, while also having a ‘key plant-based characteristic’.

Lidl has become the first major retailer to use the new Plant-Based trademark on its own brand Vemondo! Plant range.

Elsewhere, in the wider F&B industry, a new certification initiative from the Non-GMO Project aims to help consumers to better identify minimally processed foods.

The ‘Non-UPF Verified’ certification has been developed under the newly formed Food Integrity Collective, seeking to combat the growing prevalence of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in the global food supply. The Non-GMO Project revealed recent research figures showing 85% of shoppers wish to avoid UPFs, yet feel ‘overwhelmed’ by the task of identifying them in the market.

The plant-based industry is seeing increasing demand for products that are ‘clean label’ – made with natural ingredients that can be found in the home kitchen, with short, simple ingredients lists and minimal processing.

While many of today’s meat alternatives have undergone heavy processing and the use of additives to achieve their ultra-realistic, meat-like textures, we’re likely to see brands innovating to create these products using fewer ingredients and no artificial additives.

Brands like Planted are already at the forefront of this movement in alt-meat, while tofu and tempeh brands like Better Nature, Tiba Tempeh and The Tofoo Co are benefitting from these classic vegetarian staples’ resurgence in popularity as many consumers turn toward whole foods and more traditional plant proteins.

Looking to the future

Speaking to The Plant Base, ProVeg International’s Jasmijn De Boo said: “There has been a growing trend to restrict the use of terms for the marketing of plant-based food, leading to drawn out legal cases. But the meat and dairy industry is struggling to make headway here.”

“The commercial success of plant-based products are pushing parts of the meat and dairy industry to push for more restrictive marketing measures to ring fence their profits. However, there are meat companies that are also embracing plant-based foods too and seeing profit as a consequence.”

Overall, she believes that restrictions, such as the ruling against Oatly’s use of the term ‘milk,’ will not stifle the industry, adding that consumers will continue to purchase plant-based milk. “The brands are well-established and very recognisable,” she commented.

“The EU Smart Protein Project found that most people in Europe are now reducing their meat consumption, for example. A recent study by ProVeg found that plant-based meat and milk alternatives have similar, if not better, nutrient profiles than their animal-based counterparts. So with these advances, we expect the market to continue to thrive.”