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Texas lawmakers approve bill banning 'meat' & 'beef' on plant-based food labels

thehill.com

41–50 of 96 posts

Re: Texas lawmakers approve bill banning 'meat' & 'beef' on plant-based food labels

#41
post #28

They have a point. Almond milk is not milk, that is a fact, but by including the term “milk” it allows then to get into the dairy section of grocery stores, and piggyback on milk as a product. Same here with plant based food.

Eggs are not milk either, that is a fact, yet they are also found in the dairy section of grocery stores. Our government should put a stop to this un-American behavior.

[deleted]

Re: Texas lawmakers approve bill banning 'meat' & 'beef' on plant-based food labels

#42
post #5
post #2

I agree with this. Make up your own new word for the new product. Tufu isn't "bean cheese". People don't need "to be fooled" in order to get them to try highly processed plant products. Truth in advertising and all that. If you're selling processed plants or insects, great, market it and label it as such. If it's yummy, people will lap it up.

> The bill will also keep companies that produce food from...cell cultures, not slaughtered animals, from using the label “meat,” Do we need to make up a new word for “chunks of bovine muscle tissue” if it wasn’t cut out of a whole-ish cow? Sounds to me like it’s about entrenched farming interests throwing red tape at a perceived threat, not “truth in advertising”. No plant burger or vegan cheeze on the market is nef…

I guess Texas has finally figured out what Coleco already knew back in the 80's. Warm Dead Bird is a much more accurate name than fried chicken.

Re: Texas lawmakers approve bill banning 'meat' & 'beef' on plant-based food labels

#43
post #38

I don't think this is a big problem. A beyond meat burger could be marketed as a 'beyond burger'. I don't think people are that silly that they need 'meat' in the name to know it's a meat substitute.

But there are companies that have already built up brand recognition using these names. This regulation places an unfair burden on them. In any case, if your premise that people are not silly is correct, surely they don't need to be protected from confusing animal meat with meat substitutes.

True, but if the companies already have good brand recognition, then a label change shouldn't affect their current sales. I'm sure the marketing teams will come up with something to assist with new customers.

Society as a whole seems to be progressing towards a lower meat intake diet, so I would think it's likely that new and existing brands of meat alternatives will continue to do well.

Re: Texas lawmakers approve bill banning 'meat' & 'beef' on plant-based food labels

#44

They have a point. Almond milk is not milk, that is a fact, but by including the term “milk” it allows then to get into the dairy section of grocery stores, and piggyback on milk as a product. Same here with plant based food.

What a terrible loss for me as a person to be able to go to the store and buy a "milk" that doesn't come from a cow but that I can put on breakfast cereal and drink with my coffee. Meanwhile I don't see Texas aggressively defending the truth that a tomato is really a fruit and shouldn't be placed with other vegetables in the store.

For culinary use, Tomatoes are a fruit. That may differ from the biological definition but that's ok.

Re: Texas lawmakers approve bill banning 'meat' & 'beef' on plant-based food labels

#45
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right… the primary motivation of Texas lawmakers is that they are concerned about people being fooled… I want to be able to buy non-dairy yogurt and non-dairy mayo. Not “yellow paste” or “white soft creamy desert”. There is nothing wrong with products adapting to new realities and offering alternatives under the same general name. These products are clearly labeled already. The only reason to introduce this legislati…

> I want to be able to buy non-dairy yogurt no such thing exists. Velveeta can't even be called “cheese spread” despite having more similarity to any reasonable definition of that term than any non-dairy simulant has to yogurt. If people want to sell and buy plant-based yogurt-style products, that’s fine, but sellers of sich goods shouldn’t expect to be allowed to call them “yogurt”.

[deleted]

Re: Texas lawmakers approve bill banning 'meat' & 'beef' on plant-based food labels

#47
post #35
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right… the primary motivation of Texas lawmakers is that they are concerned about people being fooled… I want to be able to buy non-dairy yogurt and non-dairy mayo. Not “yellow paste” or “white soft creamy desert”. There is nothing wrong with products adapting to new realities and offering alternatives under the same general name. These products are clearly labeled already. The only reason to introduce this legislati…

Nothing wrong with calling it plant protein. Mayonnaise is just a dressing like thousand island, Russian, ranch and hundreds of others who acquired their own names. Yogurt I'm mildly ok with since basically it just means coagulated milk and also includes the necessary bacteria.

Hello Mr. Arbitrarily Making Rules! N2mu

Re: Texas lawmakers approve bill banning 'meat' & 'beef' on plant-based food labels

#49
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right… the primary motivation of Texas lawmakers is that they are concerned about people being fooled… I want to be able to buy non-dairy yogurt and non-dairy mayo. Not “yellow paste” or “white soft creamy desert”. There is nothing wrong with products adapting to new realities and offering alternatives under the same general name. These products are clearly labeled already. The only reason to introduce this legislati…

> I want to be able to buy non-dairy yogurt no such thing exists. Velveeta can't even be called “cheese spread” despite having more similarity to any reasonable definition of that term than any non-dairy simulant has to yogurt. If people want to sell and buy plant-based yogurt-style products, that’s fine, but sellers of sich goods shouldn’t expect to be allowed to call them “yogurt”.

Ok we’ll call it yogurt-like. Happy?

Re: Texas lawmakers approve bill banning 'meat' & 'beef' on plant-based food labels

#50
post #35
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right… the primary motivation of Texas lawmakers is that they are concerned about people being fooled… I want to be able to buy non-dairy yogurt and non-dairy mayo. Not “yellow paste” or “white soft creamy desert”. There is nothing wrong with products adapting to new realities and offering alternatives under the same general name. These products are clearly labeled already. The only reason to introduce this legislati…

Nothing wrong with calling it plant protein. Mayonnaise is just a dressing like thousand island, Russian, ranch and hundreds of others who acquired their own names. Yogurt I'm mildly ok with since basically it just means coagulated milk and also includes the necessary bacteria.

I find this discussion fascinating. We are both consumers discussing consumer rights. I - a consumer - want to be able to buy a product I recognize by name, that is also made from specific ingredients that I choose, e.g. almond milk. I don’t need your protection from being “fooled”. You - a consumer - don’t own the ingredients that must be contained in a specific product.
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