'Butter,' 'cheese,' etc only for animal products, rules EU court
Plant-based foods cannot be marketed under designations reserved for animal products such as 'milk,' 'cream' or 'butter,' the EU's top court ruled on Wednesday, rejecting arguments by a German company that sells "tofu butter" and "veggie cheese."
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Under the ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) - TofuTown, which produces vegetarian and vegan foods - cannot use the names of milk products in its marketing, even if the designations are always used in conjunction with a word referring to the plant origin of the product.
TofuTown has been selling products such as "Soyatoo Tofu butter," "Plant cheese" and "Veggie Cheese."
The court noted that there are exceptions provided in EU law for certain well-known and traditionally designated products such as coconut milk, fruit cheese, Shea butter or butter puffs, however, TofuTown's product names don't fall under those.
The case was referred to the ECJ by a German court, where an association combating unfair competition brought an injunction request against TofuTown, saying that its marketing practices infringed on EU law on designations for milk products. (dpa)
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