Cape Town - While the plant-based food sector is celebrating a temporary win after urgent legal efforts to halt product seizures were successful in the Johannesburg High Court, they have also called for further dialogue with government.
The legal efforts followed a letter sent out by the Food Safety Agency (FSA) on August 16 indicating that, as of today, the agency “will seize any meat analogue products presented for sale in South Africa, which are using the product names prescribed for processed meat products in terms ... of the Agricultural Product Standards Act”.
This ruling prohibits the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) and its designated assignee, FSA, from seizing any plant-based meat alternatives they deemed to be in breach of the Agricultural Product Standards Act, said ProVeg SA communications manager, Arleen Nel.
“Although we welcome the decision by the court, we would like to reiterate our call for further dialogue as we still believe that this matter should be settled through discussion between the plant-based food industry, DALLRD and the meat industry,” ProVeg South Africa country director, Donovan Will added.
This follows a June directive from DALRRD to processors, importers and retailers of plant-based meat alternatives giving them 30 business days to remove their products from shelves for relabelling or face seizures.
The DALRRD had stated that words such as “veggie biltong”, “plant-based meatballs” and “vegan nuggets” did not meet the definition of “processed meat” under the country’s regulations.
“The classification, packing and marking of processed meat products intended for sale in the Republic of South Africa are currently regulated in terms of Regulation No.R.1283 dated October 4 2019. In terms of the said regulation, “processed meat” is defined as meat that has undergone any action that substantially altered its original state (including, but not limited to, heating, smoking, curing, fermenting, maturing, drying, marinating (surface application), extraction or extrusion or any combination of all these processes), but excludes raw processed meat. Meat analogues (meat alternatives) must not use the product names prescribed and reserved for processed meat products since the scope of the above-mentioned regulation does not include meat analogues,” the DALRRD said at the time.
Numerous industry-wide discussions with DALRRD and the FSA to halt seizures and develop new legislation for plant-based meat alternatives, have so far “not led to amenable results” ProVeg said.
To stop government from proceeding with the removal of the plant based products, the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) approached the court to interdict the seizure of products pending an appeal and review of government’s decision.
“There is simply no indication, or evidence that there is any indication (despite the meat analogue products being sold by the CGCSA’s members for many years) that any false or misleading impression has been created,” court papers read.
“Moreover, there are simply no provisions in the Processed Meat Regulations which empower either the Department of the FSA to prescribe or reserve names exclusively for processed meat products at the exclusion of meat analogues.”
The DALRRD said they were studying the judgement.
“We have no comment at this stage while we are studying the judgment,” said DALRRD spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo.
CGCSA did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.
Cape Times