France’s top administrative court has waded back into a battle over the labelling of veggie burgers, suspending a decree banning plant-based products from being described as meat.
In February, the French government issued a decree to ban the term “steak” on the label of vegetarian products from 1 May, saying it was reserved for meat alone.
A veggie burger is called a veggie “steak” in French.
The decree listed 21 terms usually used by butchers – including “escalope”, “ham”, “filet” and “prime rib” – that it said were not allowed for plant-based products.
The ruling was a response to a longstanding complaint by the meat industry that terms such as “vegetarian ham” or “vegan sausage” were confusing for…