Vegan campaigners are fighting for the right to continue using terms such as ‘mylk’ and ‘sheese’ as non-dairy product descriptors.
In January, Defra said that proposals from trading standards officers, seen by The Daily Mail, were being considered, which looked to ban dairy descriptor names on plant-based products to ensure “clear differentiation” between vegan and dairy items.
As a result, brands including M.L.K.Ology, Wunda Plant Based Not Milk, Good Hemp – Oat + Hemp Milk, Mylk and Qurkee M’LK could be removed from supermarket shelves.
Food and drink public relations agency, Palm PR, has since launched a petition in an effort to stop the ban.
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Palm founders Emily and Liam Keough said: “We ask that the wider industry supports the plant-based sector by signing the petition and by asking Trading Standards to keep the status quo and not undermine an exciting engine of growth, dynamism and innovation in the food and drink industry.”
ProVeg UK director, Jimmy Pierson, said the ban could be “hugely damaging”, adding that “it seems incomprehensible that the government would impose such restrictive measures on a booming part of the UK economy”.
“This is not about consumer confusion at all. Clearly, everyone knows that oat milk comes from oats.
“It sends out the wrong message about supporting British business and about tackling climate change. Plant-based diets emit half as much greenhouse gas as animal-based diets and should be actively encouraged by the government, not hindered.”
Plant-based alternatives have boomed in the past few years. A recent Veganuary survey found that 78% of participants who were not already vegan will permanently change their diet after participating in Veganuary 2023, either by staying vegan or halving their intake of animal products.
However, venture capital funding for plant-based meat start-ups dropped to its lowest level in five years this month amid consumers cutting back on spending and investors growing more cautious.
