UK vegan sector petitions against dairy terms ban

UK plant-based businesses are petitioning Trading Standards to drop guidelines that would prevent vegan brands from using dairy-related terms.

Food & beverage PR firm Palm PR has initiated the campaign, which launched with a petition on change.org. It has been supported by The Vegan Society and vegan charity Viva, alongside plant-based dairy companies Cocos Organic and Nush Foods. Brands from the wider plant-based category, including meat alternatives brand Moving Mountains and pizza brand One Planet Pizza, have also shown support.

As reported by The Times, guidelines soon to be issued by Trading Standards would prevent brands from using “misspelling[s], homophonic words or non-alphabet symbols” to refer to dairy terms – such as ‘mylk’, ‘sheese’ and ‘b+tter’.

Campaigners believe that these changes would prevent a “level playing field” between categories, dampen innovation and add costs to businesses already battling rising prices. Their statement highlighted that consumers are clearly well-versed in plant-based dairy terminology, with the earliest mentions of soya milk dating back to 1365.

With an immediate aim of stopping the guidelines from being issued, the campaign’s long-term goal is to encourage Trading Standards to evolve its overall guidelines to better fit the modern and dynamic food and drink industry.

Founder and director of the Viva charity, Juliet Gellatley said: “Plant-based alternatives to dairy have existed for decades, never causing any confusion to consumers. Preventing businesses from using these terms may require an entire rebrand, costing a lot of money at a time when many organisations are facing economic difficulties.”

CEO of The Vegan Society, Steve Hamon, believes that the proposed measures are based on “outdated regulations” and are “driven solely by commercial interests rather than consumer interests”.

Hamon added: “Plant-based foods emit half the amount of greenhouse gases as animal-based foods and we urgently need to shift diets to help tackle climate change. Trading Standards should drop this proposal which represents a huge step backwards for the UK.”

In May, the UK’s Plant-Based Food Alliance said that the guidance drafted in 2022 by the Food Standards and Information Focus Group proposing the restriction of such phrases should be “torn up” as it “seeks to curb a booming industry”.