Vegetarians take issue with ECJ ruling on dairy

“It has little to do with consumer protection, and the European Court of Justice has merely confirmed that the relevant regulation is motivated by economic policy and has strictly interpreted the existing law, which clearly contradicts the normal consumer understanding and will continue to be discussed in the future”, says Felix Domke, speaker of the VEBU (Vegetarian Association Germany), commenting on the recent decision of the ECJ, which states that purely plant-based products cannot be labelled ‘cheese, cream, yogurt, butter or milk’.

“The Court of Justice has declared the terms in question for the designation of herbal products such as ‘soy milk’ or ‘vegan cheese’ as inadmissible; thus confirming the prevailing problematic interpretation, which is regrettable due to the strict wording of the regulation. This does not decide, whether or not milk concepts are misleading”, commented Domke, who claims that the debate shows that a ban is no longer up-to-date.

According to VEBU, more consumers are choosing plant food for various reasons. Alternatives to milk and dairy products have arrived in the middle of society and occupy a permanent place in the gastronomy and retail trade. At the same time, consumers in their everyday lives speak quite naturally about “soy milk” and “vegan cheese,” it notes.

The permissibility of the terms described in EU Regulation 1308/2013 also for this product group would be clearly desirable. Known terms such as “milk” transport a variety of information to the consumer about product properties, which to varying degrees also apply to the alternative products, he says. At the same time, there is no risk of misleading, since the clear indication that it is a vegan or vegetarian product, is in the interest of all parties involved, claims VEBU.

The German Dairy Association (MIV) welcomes this ECJ ruling, which vigorously confirms its previous case law on comprehensive labelling protection for milk and dairy products from 1999 and 2015.

“This day is a significant one for the European-wide labelling protection for milk and dairy products, which has been in place for 30 years,” says MIV managing director Jörg Rieke.

The organization hopes that food monitoring in Germany will now also be more effective than the previous infringement of the labelling of milk and dairy products, in particular the marketing of vegan products.

Milchindustrie-Verband (MIV) represents about 80 medium-sized companies in the German dairy industry. With an annual turnover of around €20 billion, they represent the largest sector in the German food industry.