Additional boxes for plant products. Ml * ko and Sm * tana must also be renamed after Nemlék

“In August this year, we took part in the Organic Food of the Year competition with some of our products. CAFIA inspectors were also on the jury and our stars in the names seemed suspicious to them,” describes the founder of Soyka, Michal Jeřábek.

In September, the company actually underwent an inspection, on the basis of which the inspectorate decided on the need to change the names of a number of products by the end of the year. The inspector’s press spokesman Pavel Kopřiva confirmed the inspectors’ visit for the on-line daily Aktuálně.cz, stating that the supplies could be sold out.

Ml * ko can deceive?

However, Soyka appealed against the inspection’s decision. “We believe that the designation of our soy products, in which an asterisk is used, together with the additional terms, sufficiently distinguishes our plant products from animal products. We do not agree with the inspection decision, but we will respect it,” says Jeřábek.

However, the inspectorate is behind the fact that this is still a violation of the ban. “It is not possible for any form of food presentation to state, imply or give the impression that a given product is a product of the dairy sector, if it is not,” emphasizes CAFIA Kopřiva.

According to Jeřábek, it is not a matter of promoting another vegan name, but rather of “the extent to which the Office is concerned with preventing consumer deception and the extent to which it is a matter of lobbying other producers”.

Nemléko also paid for the legislation

Inspection recently similarly intervened also against the Czech brand Nemléko. “The name was unsatisfactory according to European legislation and we were ordered by the State Agricultural Food Inspection Authority to change it. The name containing the word ‘milk’ or ‘yogurt’ as the root of the word can deceive the average consumer,” Amálie Koppová, co-founder of the brand, explained to Aktuálně.cz.

Unlike Soyka, the company changed its name immediately and renamed its plant products Optimistic. “We could have gone to litigation, spent a lot of effort and money with an uncertain outcome. We decided to devote time to creating a new brand that will be unassailable in this regard,” adds Koppová.

The topic of labeling plant alternatives is currently also relevant in other EU countries. In recent weeks, the European Union has considered banning the use of the term “hamburger” or “steak” for plant alternatives. However, the amendment did not pass in Brussels in the end.

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