The French government issued a decree Tuesday banning the term “steak” on the label of vegetarian products, saying it was reserved for meat alone.
The French government issued a decree Tuesday banning the term “steak” on the label of vegetarian products, saying it was reserved for meat alone.
Our building has a lot of vegetarian and vegan families so I got to sample a lot of vegan imitation products. I’ve never tasted one that got it right or very close at all. Mind you, most of them taste good but it’s just nowhere near the same. And imo they needn’t be, could just be its own thing but well, they chose a different path.
But in any case, the issue is that the consumer thinks they’re buying one thing and get another thing. And the manufacturer in question seems to intentionally be trying to cause that mistake. Just seems shady and unnecessary, since some of these products are fine, even though they’re not the same as the product they were imitating.
They’re not trying to trick you. You’re just really bad at reading.
“We’re not trying to trick people by highlighting the confusing term way above a more descriptive ones while we’re creating an imitation product, consumers are just bad at reading.”
Sure thing. I bet it’s a total accident. Companies would never try to mislead the consumers after all.
Steak is the more descriptive term. It’s the one people are looking for in the vegan meat aisle.
But when the consumers typically are looking for a steak they are looking for a steak out of meat and not a plant based imitation product. How are you not getting it? The issue is of consumer wanting one thing and getting another.
The issue is that these products can be side-by-side, like said.
Hah
That’s a tall claim. Proof?
Just looking at the sheer volume of meat steaks, how vast majority eat meat and how the word is typically used.
For further insight this seems to be a good article, talks a lot about what’s allowed and what is not.
https://www.ruokavirasto.fi/elintarvikkeet/elintarvikeala/pakkausmerkinnat-ja-markkinointi/pakolliset-elintarviketiedot/elintarvikkeiden-nimeaminen/lihavalmisteita-jaljittelevien-tuotteiden-nimeaminen/
It does make the case that steak is the shape instead of a necessarily meat product, so it’s allowed to use (even though typically steak is of meat and that’s what people are typically buying). For sausages you’d need to have a specific indicator of it being an imitation product. A sausage alone would be considered a meat product. A few have got in trouble for misleading. Names having to do with parts of the animal are verboten, salami also because of the process, bacon and kebab.
This is the one a lot of them are skirting. The situation used to be worse, now they’re doing okay and a lot of the products are just sold as their own thing but some still are being annoying about it and seeing what they can get away with.
You didn’t control for the variables of ease and cost.
I’m sure there’s other variables there too, but we are talking about the typical consumer right now. They’re not just looking to buy a shape but rather a certain product with certain features and ingredients in a certain shape. I don’t think it’s as tall of a claim as you make it out to be haha.
Not to mention, I did specifically mention sausages and that’s something where ruokavirasto clearly states it’s a meat product and differing products should be labeled as such. And that’s the whole point, people are expecting one thing but are being mislead to buy another. Obviously that’s not good from consumer pov.