“Ceci n’est pas un steak”, an appeal for transparency
Sustainable Meats shares the initiative “Ceci n’est pas un steak”, this is not a steak. The information campaign coordinated by Copa-Cogeca against the “Meat Sounding”.
Substitution in marketing is a powerful concept, but it should not always be used. In this video, a European farmer explains why it is in his interest to produce both vegetable and animal proteins, and also why he has serious doubts (not only related to health and nutritional aspects) about giving the name of meat products to products that do not contain meat at all.
The #MeatSounding raises fundamental questions about the #information provided to #consumers, our #CulturalHeritage and the #power of #marketing. Click To Tweet
Under the slogan ‘Ceci n’est pas un steak‘, European organizations representing meat supply chains are protesting against the proposal to use definitions of meat in overprocessed plant-based products. Sustainable Meats shares the initiative and the information campaign coordinated by Copa-Cogeca, which in addition to having produced this video brings together all the main European farmers’ associations. With a clear objective: to raise public awareness of the debate taking place in Brussels on the use of meat names to define products with plant ingredients.
“Plant-based products that use meat product names raise questions about the information provided to consumers, our cultural heritage, and the power of modern marketing, which mixes values and great business interests without having any qualms about it.” This is the manifesto issued by Copa-Cogeca, which agrees with the European livestock sector which focuses attention on a key issue: the composition of plant products to which today the designations of meat would like to be attributed.
The question that the association asks is simple: what is inside what today would like to be called “steak” but which is more properly a plant-based product? Once again, the names define things, and calling steak, sausage, burgers what is not is deception and misleading to consumers. “The substitution – the Copa-Cogeca appeal says – is not nutritionally neutral and a vegan steak is not the same as a traditional steak”.”
“Producing meat and cold cuts in Italy belong to our cultural heritage, with the landscape surrounding us and with our food model, and for this reason must be protected – Professor Giuseppe Pulina claims, President of Sustainable Meats – it is important, therefore, to support this campaign that aims to safeguard an important rule that defends a heritage of know-how that distinguishes us from the rest of the world, and it also provides protection for all consumers who have the right to choose consciously and informedly without being deceived by misleading communication.”
