There are three wiener dogs outside of the UK parliament. The man who took the dachshunds there was very serious about it. Animals were brought in protest by the founder of a startup that makes plant-based meat alternatives. The European Parliament voted against the use of meat-related words in the name of plant-based food in 2020. "Plant-based sausages" would need a different name if the ban had passed. Tofu may have to be renamed "veggie strips."Vegetable burgers may have to be renamed "discs." It was a serious threat to companies like Meatless Farm, which makes meat out of peas, soya, and rice. Toft Bech pointed out that dachshunds, known in the UK as sausage dogs, get to use the meat-evoking word "sausage" in their names. Two years have passed since the ban was rejected.
"If you look up bacon in the dictionary, it says bacon is cured meat from the back or sides of a pig," said Sarah Morrell, a policy officer at the Ulster Farmers' Union.
She is a member of a union that is on one side of a heated international battle pitting meat-alternative startups against the farming and agriculture industry.
Meat lobbies, made up of farming unions, agriculture bodies, and other organizations representing meat producers, are trying to stop startup companies from describing their products.
They are prepared for the battle. Toft Bech said that they wouldn't get anywhere by sitting and smiling.
Texas is considering a ban, while Louisiana struck down a law limiting the use of meat terms. The law banning the use of meat names in South Africa was put on hold until a court order could be obtained.
The integrity and cultural importance of meat has been damaged by plant-based products that do not match its taste and nutrition standards.
It's only in using terms like sausage that they can signal to consumers which product they're positioning themselves against, and how to cook it.
Ivan Farneti, an investor at Five Seasons Venture, said that the legal battles could be the "kiss of death" for startup companies with limited resources.
Concerns about the environmental and animal welfare impacts of the meat industry have led to increased investment in alternative proteins.
According to data from PitchBook, which tracks the venture-capital industry, European startups lured over $1 billion from venture capitalists in the year of 2011. It was up from the previous year.
Legal battles over naming are taking time and money out of startup.
In an interview with Insider, Meatless Farm's Toft Bech said his company had spent about 5% of its £89 million in venture-capital funding on lawyers looking after its trademarks. There are challenges to its trademark over its use of the word farm.
He wondered if that money could have done anything.
Bernat Ananos is one of the Heura co- founders. The person is Heura.
According to Bernat Aaos, co-owner of Heura, a Spanish startup that makes plant-based meat substitute, changing the food system takes less time than it takes to go to court. It has raised 36 million dollars from various people.
meatballs became pingpong balls, and burgers were renamed "rabbit food you can throw on the barbeque", if Heura could no longer use meat in its product names.
La Vie describes its food as bacon and lardons without Mr. pig. They look like meat, but are made of rehydrated soyaProtein.
Natalie Portman is a supporter of La Vie.
In July, it was part of a group of companies that succeeded in stopping a French ban on plant-based foods. The ban was introduced in Europe by a cattle farmer and was the first of its kind in the world.
Nicolas Schweitzer said that they were nervous. Losing the case would necessitate rethinking the company's branding, advertising, and packaging, as well as losing the meat-based names that customers have gotten to know over the years. If the ban happened, La Vie would move its manufacturing to Belgium.
He wants to have the ban thrown out at some point next year.
The meat lobby was trying to slow us down, Schweitzer said.
He said that it's not going to work.
La Vie is going to wear its legal battles as a Badge of Honor. As part of its marketing, it has hired an in-house lawyer and published its court cases on its website.
The French Interprofessional Pork Council complained that its advertising was misleading.
La Vie teased, "Thanks for the compliment, we think your pork lardons are indistinguishable from our veggie lardons." Do you want to change your recipe?
The newspaper advert was for La Vie.
Schweitzer sees humor as a key weapon in his crusade against meat consumption.
He said that he tried to call for change to the food system in a quirky and positive way.
Schweitzer argued that "plant-based" should be added to a product's name to make it clear that it's not meat. Consumers call his product plant-based bacon when they see it.
It's not right that his company can't refer to its products in the most explicit way because it's only economic interest.
The meat industry doesn't agree with what's happening.
It's argued that plant-based meat alternatives shouldn't be allowed to use terms like meat because they aren't meat. People in the meat and agriculture industries tell Insider that they don't match it in terms of taste, texture, or nutrition.
They said it's confusing and misleading as meat alternatives are becoming more popular in grocery stores.
Bruno Menne, a senior policy advisor at Europe's meat body, said plant-based foods were hijacking the positive marketing of meat.
Meat bodies would like to see new terms for plant-based food. It is a matter of common sense and consistency according to a representative of the group.
It's a concern for nutrition as well. Some plant-based products have been criticized for their high levels of processing.
Menne accused his competitors of hiding behind big names that obscure how they are made. He said that using that allows you to avoid telling the consumer what is in your product.
He said that a meat-free burger might be high in calories, but it doesn't have the same vitamins and minerals as a meat burger.
Insider spoke with both meat organizations and plant-based companies who said they encouraged a balanced diet.
It's a precarious time for meat alternative companies.
Despite the boom in investment, meat alternatives are seeing disappointing sales growth and are feeling the pressure of market volatility and inflation, which the PitchBook analyst said was leading consumers to trade down to cheaper meats.
The volume of meat alternatives sold in the US is down from a year ago. Europe-wide data is hard to find.
The case for more investment in plant-based products is weakened if there is a ban on meat-based names.
Farneti told Insider that naming restrictions would hurt the job of running these startup. He asked if the founders of the startup were swimming in deep water. They are forced to swim in mud.
Heura's products include soy-based chicken and chorizo substitute. The word "carne" is used in advertisements.
The legal battles are part of the territory, according to Aaos. He said that if they were liked by everyone, they wouldn't be changing the world.
Heura food.
He thinks the idea of startups threatening all the things people enjoy about meat is not true. He said that they don't want to destroy their culture. I like to barbecue with my friends. My grandma has Christmas dinners. I don't like the consequences of meat but I love it.
The state has a role to play in helping meat producers transition to a plant-based age.
Despite the animosity, he feels meat producers and plant-based companies will eventually have to work together: "The climate crisis and the animal crisis is a challenge of humanity, and either we go together or we will fail."
Toft Bech thought it was a shame. I would like to see a regulatory environment that is more supportive of the new than the old one.
Meatless Farm was founded by Morten Toft Bech. The farm is meatless.
In the future, animal-based meat will dominate the luxury market and plant-based alternatives will replace cheaper, everyday meats. Middle-market cuts that are mass-produced in industrial farms are what he wants Meatless Farm's products to replace.
The court battles were worth it according to the startups. Schweitzer said that they don't mind the backlash.
Unlike the animal-meat industry, which has millions of long-term customers, most companies like his don't.
They don't have to defend their products. Schweitzer said there was nothing to lose.
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