More than a dozen food companies have urged the European Commission not to ban the use of words such as “sausage” and “burger” for non-meat products.

  • ViatorOmnium@piefed.social
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    3 months ago

    I think the rules should be even stricter. An Hamburger should only be made in Hamburg, otherwise it’s a Minced Corpse Patty.

  • Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org
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    3 months ago

    But such a ban is needed. Urgently.

    They want to lie? They even think that their business depends on such lies? Then the market will eliminate them anyway, and nobody is going to mourn them.

    • rants_unnecessarily@piefed.social
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      3 months ago

      A sausage is a sausage, no matter what you stuff inside it. It’s the shape, use and all the practicalities of a sausage that determine that it’s a sausage.

      When I hear “sausage” I know what to do with the thing. I can’t know what it includes.
      Beef? Pork? Chicken? Horse? Peas? Beans? Mushroom? Tofu? That’s to be determined by the other words on the package.

      • isgleas@lemmy.ml
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        3 months ago

        A sausage is a sausage, no matter what you stuff inside it

        That is limited to english vocabulary I guess. In spanish there are distictions between salchichas, chorizos, longanizas, etc, and all of them are their own kind of “embutidos”. So in spanish, it would make sense to name it “embutido de guisantes”

        Similarly with milk. I know you may milk nuts (jk), but not the “frutos secos” kind. How would you milk an oatmeal? A grain of rice?

        • rants_unnecessarily@piefed.social
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          3 months ago

          And this is about the English word in the English use, with English rules, so let’s stick to those, shall we.

          Milk is another word with another angle. The connotation is no longer, in everyday layman use, connected to “something you get out of a teet” and instead it is what children drink, you put in cereals or coffee, etc.

          That’s the beauty about languages, they evolve with the needs of the populace that uses them.

          We no longer live in an agrarian society, so when somebody now speaks of milk, you don’t think, “what did they milk it from”, you think “what are they going to put that thing in that they bought from a shop”.

        • Che Banana@beehaw.org
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          3 months ago

          To answer the last they’re labeled:

          Bebida de Soja (avena, almendras etc), sometimes adding ‘for baristas’…but that’s only one brand.

          Soy Drink.

          No milk in the description at all, that’s just for the English.

    • CXORA@aussie.zone
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      3 months ago

      Its not a lie… thats how people know and name the item. In fact this ban would punish people using natural established names for things thst have been in use for decades. It is nonsensical.

      • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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        3 months ago

        I actually did have vegan “fish” by accident once. Ordered normal fish and chips, but they called the vegan stuff Vish, so it was easy to get mixed up. It was quite the disappointment (I immediately tasted that this was not fish).

        I don’t understand why people keep insisting that it has to be called a burger or a sausage. With a burger - OK, I kind of see that we’ve already muddied the waters on what can be called a burger, but a sausage? That has just about always been with meat until recently, and obviously for many people that’s part of the definition. Why can’t we just call it something else if the core element of what makes it a thing is absent? (And why do we even have to try to recreate meat by processing vegan stuff until what it used to be is unrecognizable? There’s so much more to vegan coming than that…)

        • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          So you didn’t do your due diligence as a restaurant patron to find out exactly what you were ordering, and somehow that means others are to blame?

          I can’t fathom sincerely making such an argument. You saw a strange name, didn’t ask questions, ordered it, and got disappointed.

          Okay, now I know that sounds awfully confrontational, but it’s a harsh truth that we as consumers need to do our own due diligence when making purchases. If something seems off, I’d implore you (and everyone else reading this) to investigate it, for your own sake and safety. We live in a world that’s ready to swindle every one of us at any given chance - no matter what kind of product we’re looking at.

          • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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            3 months ago

            For me that comes down to the same argument as “didn’t you read the fine print?” If I spent time researching the due diligence you’re expecting, I would have time for nothing else anymore.

            And I didn’t order wrong, they misunderstood me, because it was so confusing.

        • MaggiWuerze@feddit.org
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          3 months ago

          The core element of a sausage is not, that it is made from meat. Its the shape and structure, namingly “Ground up things stuffed into a thin tube, then cooked, smoked or grilled”.

          There have been so many changes even before adding being vegetarian to the mix.

          Most sausage you buy nowadays is no longer made with pig intestines. Does that bother you as well?

          There was also sausage that was not made from meat before or only contained very little, Luke Pinkel or Grützwurst

          • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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            3 months ago

            Traditionally, yes, it is that it is made from meat. Even most dictionaries will back that up. Even vegan “sausages” will try to make the contents taste like meat (the keyword is in my experience “try”), which kind of proves the point.

            And yes, most sausages aren’t made from intestine anymore, but if you want a really good one - it still is, and there’s an argument to be made that it isn’t an authentic traditional sausage if it isn’t. To be fair, though, the intestine isn’t central to the taste, it’s more of a functional thing. The filling isn’t, though.

            And I’m not sure you understand what Grützwurst is, then - the base is still meat.

        • Teacrumble@feddit.org
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          3 months ago

          For the Vish 'n Chips, I fully agree. If the names are too easily mixed up, then it should be changed, 100%.

          But just using the word burger or sausage as part of the productname shouldn’t be banned. As long as you put a clear descriptive of the kind of sausage in front of it like veggie sausage or quorn sausages. If you gave people a sausage, and when they bite into it they find out its chicken sausage or even blood sausage, would their outrage not be equally valid, since they expected a normal pork sausage?

          And why do we even have to try to recreate meat by processing vegan stuff until what it used to be is unrecognizable?

          Isn’t that basically what the traditional sausage was as well, made from blended scrap parts and organs? Minced meat on its own is processing the meat of an animal until it is unrecognizable

        • voidemu@feddit.org
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          3 months ago

          There have been vegan sausages for years. It’s just recently developed a hype. And they also where called sausages for literally decades.

        • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          We’ve had veggie sausages (the non meat replacement kind) for a very fucking long time. Definitely more than 30 years. Why is the term so precious now?

        • Runwaylights@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          While I agree that there is much more to vegan than just meat replacements, and personally I don’t care what they call it. There are a couple of arguments for recreating meat:

          1. It sells. And in this world: if it sells, people will keep making it.
          2. Being vegetarian, vegan or someone who wants to cut back on their meat eating, doesn’t mean that they don’t like the taste and feel of meat. Some might do it for the environment or animal suffering. But they still like that meat taste and want a replacement.
          3. One does not exclude the other: you can have both meat replacements and non meat looking vegan stuff. Which there are BTW
          4. Its funny: especially the vegetarian butcher has some clever wordplays
          5. Live and let live I guess
          • unknownuserunknownlocation@kbin.earth
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            3 months ago

            Fair enough. I guess it just often bothers me that I’ll be somewhere, and the choice I get is between meat and something that tries to be meat. I’ve tried the latter a number of times and always been disappointed. Which often ends up preventing me from reducing my meat consumption, because if I don’t want something masquerading as meat, well then there’s nothing other than meat.

            • Runwaylights@lemmy.world
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              3 months ago

              Oh yes that is a real issue. It is hard sometimes to get a good vegan/vegetarian meal. I just want something original, not another goat cheese salad or a burger.

        • Runwaylights@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          By that same arguments you could also call meat lobby the fraudsters. They’re the ones whining, moaning and lobbying to the European parliament to get the ban in order. In stead of using regular sales tactics.

          • hakase@lemmy.zip
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            3 months ago

            Note that they will still be able to sell them though. The products are allowed - they just won’t be allowed to mislead consumers anymore. I really don’t understand why y’all are getting so up in arms about this.

  • Runwaylights@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I couldn’t care less what you call them. You can call them vegetable dicks and I would still eat them. It’s just a ridiculous waste of resources powered by the meat lobby who have seen a portion of their market share disappear.

  • ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip
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    3 months ago

    I hate that a sausage comes from a “food company” instead of a butcher. (Or grocer for vegan sausage)

    • harmbugler@piefed.social
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      3 months ago

      So, food companies, just how much actual meat is there in your sausages and what animal parts are you using?

  • dust_accelerator@discuss.tchncs.de
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    3 months ago

    Sooo. There’s a word.

    Kackwurst, die

    Grammatik
    Substantiv (Femininum)

    • Genitiv Singular: Kackwurst
    • Nominativ Plural: Kackwürste

    Aussprache
    [ˈkakvʊʁst]

    Worttrennung
    Kack-wurst

    Clearly, this may be, or may not be a meat product. If they want to regulate something so so far, they must go all the way!

  • wieson@feddit.org
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    3 months ago

    Listen, I’m not a vegan, but I find this names that are bent around the bush so annoying.

    Yeah, I get it , it’s not literally milk. But calling it “almond milk” is waaay smoother than “almond drink” or “almond concoction” or whatever.

    Same with Malzbier.

    • SkavarSharraddas@gehirneimer.de
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      3 months ago

      But calling it “almond milk” is waaay smoother than “almond drink” or “almond concoction”

      By having to give it a weird name those products and the sustainability argument behind it get associated with weirdness, and are less appealing to people who might otherwise consider trying them.

    • tresspass@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      The definition of milk literally includes plant milks. Milk has been used to describe these beverages for as long as the give existed.

      • wieson@feddit.org
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        3 months ago

        I agree, but that’s not what the marketing law in Germany says. Not long ago, it was changed by conservatives to only include real cow’s milk.

    • Jajcus@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      I have seen coconut milk sold as ‘coconut drink’, even though it is not used as drink. That is stupid.

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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      3 months ago

      The problem i have is just that i walk into a store, buy some cheese for my cheese toast, then later at home discover it’s not “cheese” but some disgusting mixture of plant oils and flavour agents that makes me want to vomit and throw up.

      The problem is not vegan products existing, but them deceiving and tricking the ordinary person about what they are with no clear labeling. It simply has to be explicit that it is not what a normal person thinks when they read “cheese”, but some other experimental food instead.

    • GMac@feddit.org
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      3 months ago

      “Creamy nut juice” just didn’t do very well in the test marketing

  • Zier@fedia.io
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    3 months ago

    Sausages can be called “links”. Burgers can be called “patties”. The only people pissed about Soy Milk, Vegan Burgers and Veggie Sausages are the corporations who sell meat exclusively, and the people who don’t read food packaging. Smart vegan & vegetarians know that you need to read the ingredients before you buy that product. I always make sure I go home with the right wiener.

    • FatVegan@leminal.space
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      3 months ago

      The other day i tried to buy an oat drink, for my coffee. I usually have a favourite brand, but i don’t care as much. It didn’t have any that i recognized, but damn the one i bought, i had to read really closely what kind of “milk” it was.

    • Dupelet@piefed.social
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      3 months ago

      There’s definitely some bad actors in food packaging, though. In some countries, it’s insane how hard it is to differentiate between butter and some non-dairy spread at the grocery.

    • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      I take it a step further, I don’t just make sure that I take the right weiner home, I inspect it before I put it in my mouth. and especially give it a sniff test.

  • whaleross@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I’m a happy meat eater and considering the number of different kinds of sausage with all different ingredients in different proportions and different textures and different herbs and spices and different skins and different sizes and different ways to prepare them I think this is absolutely ridiculous.

    If tiny dried sausages with lamb and herbs in natural skin are just as much sausage as spiced up raw mince in a plastic skin are just as much sausage as precooked hot dogs with pork and salt but mostly potato filler in mysterious edible non natural skin, then a sausage with vegetable mash for filling is definitely a sausage as well.

    • WIZARD POPE💫@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Yeah sausage is at least in my eyes a form of food. Kinda like a loaf of bread can be different types of bread so can a sausage be different meat (or not even meat at all).

      • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        I don’t know. We all have different words for “sausage” and different cultural attachments to them.

        In Swedish, the word for sausage, “korv” is widely used (albeit informally) as a word describing the shape, and not necssesarily the product.

        Hot dogs are in the section of sausages at least, but the meat % is almost always on the front of the packages. Which for “hot dogs” is ~34%. I don’t know who buys them. Personally I go for the 70+

  • jenesaisquoi@feddit.org
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    3 months ago

    “Ground up dead body of an animal fisted into another animals anal canal”

    I mean we can just call it what it is

  • hakase@lemmy.zip
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    3 months ago

    And which food companies are those I wonder. Probably the ones with a business interest in keeping consumers confused.

    • VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 months ago

      Why are you so adamant on this? All vegan meat replacements I’ve ever seen are very clearly marked as such, and most supermarkets around here have them in their own section.

      Are you usually just stuffing your cart with things immediately after recognising a single word on the packaging? Cause that’s how you end up with shitty sausage, even if you do buy meat.

      I feel like it makes sense to name replacement products in a way that makes clear what they’re replacing. Mandate putting the word vegan in front of it in the same font size if you’re really worried about confusion.

    • chuckleslord@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Confused about what? It’s designed to be the same product, but without meat. And they’re always labeled as such. It’s not confusing, it’s meat companies wanting to fuck over their competition by banning the label

      • BorgDrone@feddit.nl
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        3 months ago

        the same product, but without meat

        So not the same product.

        Why do these companies insist on trying to trick people into buying their disgusting fake food? The people who specifically want that kind of thing know how to find it.

        Put this shit in a separate isle in the supermarket so people don’t accidentally buy this crap.

        And sure, it’s labelled but that doesn’t mean that it’s clear enough when you are going through the supermarket in a hurry after a long day at work. Happened to me multiple times that I accidentally bought a fake vegan version of something because it sat right next to the real product in an almost identical package.

        I don’t mind food that happens to be vegetarian or vegan, there are plenty of delicious things that don’t contain meat or animal products. What I have an issue with is this ultra-processed fake food that pretends to be real food.

      • hakase@lemmy.zip
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        3 months ago

        How will this fuck over their competition? Like, what’s the actual argument there?

  • stray@pawb.social
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    3 months ago

    Remembering that person who bought a “soy chorizo” on accident because they read the label as a sentence.

    spoiler

    “I’m a sausage.”

    • Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      They should call it “chorisoya” to avoid confusion. It sounds almost the same anyway and is kind of a neat name.