• hakase@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      So that I don’t have to keep spending ten minutes triple-checking packages of food every time I go shopping, ever since the time I double-checked that I was buying actual mozzarella, only to find that my cheesy bread tasted like plastic that evening due to misleading packaging and small print.

      I want to be able to walk into the store, blindly grab packages that say “burgers” and “cheese” without having to take ten minutes to scour them, and not be blindsided when I get home by what I believe amounts to false advertising. Not to mention this will make it less likely that people morally or ethically opposed to meat and dairy products accidentally purchase those products.

      Maybe I’m missing something, but it honestly seems like a purely positive change with no downsides whatsoever, other than to vegans mad that meat and dairy exist at all. The products will all still be available to buy, but will now be less likely to confuse consumers.

      Edit: [Here’s] a great example from lower in the thread. You either have to have specific cultural knowledge that “Beyond” means “no meat”, or you have to check the actual ingredients.

      Instead of this intentionally misleading garbage, you could have the large print actually say something like “PLANT PATTY”, and then the small print say “Compare to a chicken burger patty!” or something like that.

      • CXORA@aussie.zone
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        2 months ago

        Idk, ive never seen plant based food that’s ambigious over whether or not it contains meat. Thats kind of the selling point of the product after all.

        It feels like this law is just to undermine the competition.

        I’m sorry, maybe your area is different and the packaging doesn’t show “plant based”, “soy”, “oat milk” etc prominently. But that’s just so far outside my experience I can’t imagine it.

        • FelixCress@lemmy.worldOP
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          2 months ago

          The below is an example of vegan sausages sold in the UK - tell me it is not misleading with “meat free” printed in white on bright background:

          • CXORA@aussie.zone
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            2 months ago

            I’m sorry, that image is too blurry for me to make out most of the text, regardless of the colours.

            I tried finding the same packaging in higher resolution, but it doesn’t match what any of the product pages for frys I have been able to find.

            • FelixCress@lemmy.worldOP
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              2 months ago

              I belive they used to be sold in one of upmarket shops in the UK. I don’t see them anymore on their website so they probably gone. But see another example - no mention these are vegan. In my opinion this is clearly misleading.

              • skarn@discuss.tchncs.de
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                2 months ago

                Omnivore here.

                I say if you don’t even care what meat is in your sausage, meat replacement is fine too.

                Whenever better-not-ask-mistery-meat is an acceptable option, meat replacement is acceptable as well.

                If you’d buy that without checking the ingredients, you get what you get. Might be pig, chicken, goat, horse, beef, nutria, or lentils. If you don’t care, you don’t care.

              • CXORA@aussie.zone
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                2 months ago

                That certainly doesnt mention its meat free.

                Sure. Though, whether or not people care if there is any meat in “sausage” is an open question.

                “Sausage” kind of just means “tube shaped savoury food”. I was expecting some specific meat to be mentioned. Chicken, pork, beef, lamb. That would have been misleading.

                • FelixCress@lemmy.worldOP
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                  2 months ago

                  Though, whether or not people care if there is any meat in “sausage” is an open question.

                  This is disgenuous. Sausage is made from meat. If it is made from plant pulp it should at least be clearly stated on the label or it should use different name to sausage.

                  I don’t understand why manufacturers of vegan food are hell bent on mimicking meat products. It is like Indians would try to do curry in a shape of a steak for the European market. It is a complete nonsense.

                  • CXORA@aussie.zone
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                    2 months ago

                    If people cared what sausage contained… it would say. But sausage is not required to mention its ingredients to front… because no one cares if its chicken, pork, beef or tofu.