“Purely plant-based products cannot, in principle, be marketed under denominations, such as 'milk', 'cream' or 'cream', 'butter', 'cheese' and 'yogurt', which Union law reserves for products of animal origin”: the EU Court of Justice established it. “This also applies if these denominations are completed by explanatory or descriptive indications which indicate the vegetable origin of the product in question”, adds the Court.
The European Court of Justice has ruled on a case raised in Germany. The dispute sees the TofuTown company, which produces and distributes vegetarian and vegan foods under names such as 'tofu butter' and 'Veggie-Cheese', and the Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb, a German association that fights against unfair competition, at odds. The Court agreed with the association, recalling that EU laws reserve, with few and well-defined exceptions, the denominations in question exclusively for products of animal origin and that therefore TofuTown violates EU legislation.
