The Johannesburg High Court has overturned a plan by the South African government to remove all plant-based meat alternatives from supermarket shelves.
The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) approached the court for an urgent interdict to stop the Food Safety Agency from seizing meat analogue products from retailers. Last week the court set aside the decision to seize the products.
A ban on the use of “meat” words for plant-based alternatives meant that non-compliant products were set to be seized by South Africa’s Food Safety Agency (FSA) in 2022. Following an intervention by the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA), the High Court granted a last-minute order to stop the seizure while the a review of the ban took place.
Now the review has concluded, with the Court has ruled in favor of plant-based proteins. Advocates for plant-based diets are celebrating the ruling.
“ProVeg welcomes this decision by the Johannesburg High Court,” ProVeg South Africa director, Donovan Will, said in a statement. “We appreciate the efforts by the CGCSA and we hope that this latest development encourages [agriculture department] to meet with stakeholders in the plant-based space to discuss the issue further.”
South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) argued that its ban on words like “burger” and “sausage” for plant-based products was to save shoppers from confusion.
DALRRD ordered the FSA to confiscate any products on sale that used these terms on the packaging. ProVeg urged the government to rethink the ban, and plant-based meat company Fry Family Food (known widely as Fry’s) lodged an a formal objection.
The CGCSA successfully argued that under South African law it was not clear how the seizures could be legally or otherwise enforced. It described the High Court ruling as a “collective victory for the meat analogue sector, which is a growing source for alternative plant based food products, as well as a source of employment throughout the value chain.”
Plant-based burgers, nuggets, sausages, and other products can now remain on sale in South Africa.
The above story was published by plantbasednews.org at
