The plant-based industry has warned that the ruling that prohibit companies from using meat-related names on their products would be detrimental for the industry and cripple smaller businesses.
South Africa is not the only country that has instated a ban; France this week became the first European country to ban the use of meat names on plant-based food products, from October.
The National Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has given the sector until July 24 to relabel products after it imposed a ban on the use of meaty terms on plant-based foods.
Words like “nuggets,” “sausages,” “ribs,” and “chicken-style” are to be used exclusively for processed meat products and any plant-based items using the terms will be seized by the country’s Food Safety Agency.
The country has also ordered JUST Egg, a non-dairy, vegan egg producer, to stop selling their products in stores across the region. But the sector has raised concerns on the costs involved in name changes and, in some instances, the rebranding and a whole new marketing strategy which would cost time and money.
The Western Cape province is a significant exporter of plant-based foods, with exports valued at R538 million last year and R965m the previous year.
The province made up approximately 27% of total plant-based foods exported from the country between 2017 and 2021.
Owner of Veggie Wors Lisa Labinjoh said the decision was tantamount to kicking small businesses when they were already down.
Labinjoh said having survived the Covid-19 pandemic, stage six load shedding, the ruling made doing business worse.
“We are sitting on thousands of rand of printed labels and we are told that we cannot use them. We have thousands of rand worth of stock in retail stores that will be pulled from the shelves.
“We have been given days to sort it all out. It's so preposterous, it feels like a joke but it is not. It's a real and costly threat to our business,” she said.
At her establishment, Labinjoh makes vegetarian sausages, burgers and balls from lentils, butternut, oats and onion with some other flavours.
She said their “packaging clearly states our products are vegetarian and suitable for vegans”.
The department said the regulations were not new and were in the pipeline since 2019. The ban was on the “illicit use of the product names in respect of names exclusively prescribed for processed meat products”.
This directive required that incorrectly labelled meat analogue products must be withdrawn until they are correctly labelled. The department agreed to delay by 30 days any seizures of products that are unlawful, pending an extensive market survey.
In a joint letter, the plant-based sector spelled out its opposition and called for the 30-day deadline to be scrapped.
“The regulation does not state or even suggest that the product names mentioned in the regulation have been prescribed and reserved for processed meats exclusively.
“Without such a statement, the regulation fails to give proper notice to stakeholders of meat analogue products that the regulation was intended to govern those products,” the letter read.
Some of the other product names that were banned include “vegan or veggie biltong, mushroom biltong, plant-based meatballs, vegan nuggets, vegan BBQ ribs, plant-based bratwurst chorizo, red pepper vegetarian sausages and plant-based chicken-style strips,” among others.
Anneke Malan, co-owner of Herbi Vohr, said the ruling would not only force their businesses to close their doors, but will also lead to more jobs being loses and appealed to the department to reconsider the decision.
“We implore the department to reconsider this senseless ultimatum and to acknowledge that descriptions such as 'plant-based biltong' and 'vegan Burger Patties' cannot possibly be misunderstood by anyone at all, and can therefore not constitute any threat to the country's food safety whatsoever,” said Malan.
Jason McNamra, chef at The Kind Kitchen, said a major concern would be the waste of food which had already been labelled and the impact of the ruling would have on the economy.
He said the ban would cripple the plant-based industry as it was becoming increasingly difficult for any business to thrive in South Africa due to the weak rand value, higher food prices and soaring fuel costs.
McNamra agreed that plant-based products must be labelled in such a way that it did not create confusion or mislead the consumers. But a balanced approach was needed, he added.
“We drop the 'b' in bacon and replace it with a 'v' to promote our Kinda Vacon rashers. This, I believe as a consumer, is acceptable. We encourage the government to consider all the facts presented and to find a middle ground which won't cause unnecessary hardship on our plant-based industry which is providing jobs and skills within our struggling economy,” said McNamra.
Peter Gordon, chief executive of South African Meat Processors Association (Sampa) has rallied behind the department.
“You cannot use the meat names in non-meat products. The main ingredients of the product must be the hero of the product. It is a responsible manufacturer who puts the right list of ingredients in the packaging,” he said.
Gordon said the processed meat industry had to comply with a myriad of regulations and regulatory inspections to be able to sell products in South Africa. Processed meat producers are regularly inspected by the Food Safety Agency and the National Regulator for Compulsory Standards (NRCS).
The spokesperson for Proveg SA, Arleen Nel, said even though the ban affects all plant-based companies, he was worried about small businesses.
“While large corporations might be able to absorb this loss, most plant-based meat alternative companies are medium-to-small-scale, even one-person operations, that will be buried in debt and possibly lose their only means of income.
“Taking into account how much the plant-based food sector in South Africa has grown in the last few years, it will also lead to significant job losses,” she said.