Silly sausage

• 21.10.2020 11:29 UTC+02:00
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One of the, ahem, meatier subjects to be debated by the European Parliament this week is when is a sausage not a sausage?

Copa-Cogeca, which represents the European livestock industry, supports amendments to the CMO Regulation's provisions regarding meat denominations that require products such as sausages and burgers to contain meat. Apparently, this is to prevent people from being misled into thinking that vegetarian sausages and burgers do contain meat.

I really don't know what to say! (SMH)

Terms such as "soya milk" and "vegan cheese" were banned in the European Union three years ago, after its top court ruled terms such as milk and cheese could not be used for non-dairy products. But these new amendments would take this a step further by prohibiting manufacturers from comparing plant-based foods to dairy with words such as "style" and "like". That would mean an end to seeing "cheese-style" or "yoghurt-like" items on supermarket shelves.

BBC News droid

I've often wondered how you milk a soya bean or an almond. A teeny-tiny milking stool and a couple of pairs of tweezers, perhaps? (thinking)

Moving on, I can see the point in not allowing vague modifier terms such as ‑style and ‑like, because they are confusing, and they're meaningless without context.

But vegetarian is a well-understood concept, and quite clearly makes the context apparent, especially when the ingredients are listed on the packaging!* I'm not so sure about vegan; presumably vegans are in the know, and are capable of looking out for themselves.

Anyway, it all makes a certain brouhaha on the other side of the pond pale into insignificance.