https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-21/fake-meat-vegan-senat…
Do you guys feel like this is a real issue?
Have You Ever Mistakenly Bought Plant-Based Meat Instead of Real Meat When Shopping?
Comments
I think we should take it further.
*This product is manufactured on equipment that is also used to process non slaughtered products. May contain traces of vegetables.
Give us a picture of an example that confused you
Have You Ever Mistakenly Bought Plant-Based Meat Instead of Real Meat When Shopping?
YES
For a while, our local Coles had 'some' of the Vegan sausages with the real sausages.
I reported it as deceptive and misleading and now they have their own section, far away from meat so I don't accidentally buy them again….
sounds rough! glad you survived!
Thanks…
A few sessions of group therapy helped a lot…
Yeah but given the quality of sausages, perhaps vegan ones could be considered an improvement…
jepus cripes i wish that colesworth would separate the meat from the vegetarian/vegan products or vice versa. they haven't got a clue or couldn't care less. who knows. i don't want to walk or search through the valley of death to get my vegetarian/vegan goodies.
Why is 'some' in quotes? Did you mean to put them around 'sausages' after 'vegan' but you had another one of your strokes?
that we don't use the picture of an animal, we don't use the name of an animal, on a product that has no reference to that animal at all.
Oh dear, what do you think the new freddo packaging might look like, @Frogged?
Yeah, the outrage at opening one to realise it didn't contain a real frog! Don't get me started on Caramello koalas
This is a complete non problem created by the meat and dairy industries. Their market share is shrinking. Very very slowly, but the number of edible and actually decent meat alternatives is growing.
I like Beyond Burgers and have never been in doubt as to what I'm buying. Maybe someone who doesn't read English could be confused, but I doubt they'd keep on buying a product and then be shocked it wasn't meat.
Just wait until lab grown meat comes onto the market. The legacy meat industry will be crying foul and demanding it be labeled as 'Franken-meat'.
The ethical comments in the story are dumb. She doesn’t realise the environmental harm she is doing consuming plant products.
mmmm 'franken-meat'
The meat I buy eat grass/seeds so are vegetarian. Therefore I'm eating vegetarian meat.
…and?
I nearly did at Coles. Forgot exactly what it was but was reading the nutritional details on the back and found it extremely high in carbs and sodium. This made me re-read the front and found although the name of it had meat in it, it also had an illustration saying meat-free.
You think it's silly not being able to tell but I'm sure some companies make it ambiguous on purpose get people to buy it in the hope they just consume it.
username checks out
"It was only written all over the front. So confusing!"
Its intentional deception by their marketing or branding people so that some people will pick it up and purchase it, unaware the product they're buying is trying to come off as the regular item (cheese, meat etc) that would be expected when you have the same words, similar imagery, packing and product placement in some stores.
or perhaps it's not a massive conspiracy and simply a means to convey what a particular plant-based product is intended to substitute
No its very intentional.
The vegans I know refuse to call their own foods by their animal counterparts name, so beef burger, sausages, meatballs, sausage roll etc, while they agree with having a plant based option they talk of those types as gateway products to get people away from animal based food to plant based.So why would a company who are making plant based alternatives choose those same names and put them as near as possible to the actual food in question?
Businesses rarely do things unintentionally, everything is done for a reason. That's not really a conspiracy.
It isn't trickery.
It is the supermarkets themselves who choose how to arrange, and where to place products within their stores.
The plant-based meat sections of the supermarket are composed of multiple brands, from multiple manufacturers. They haven't formed a coalition to strong-arm supermarkets into putting their products in a certain location for the sake of misleading consumers.
The supermarkets are the ones trying to sway consumers towards the products because they are trying to jump on the trend of plant-based alternatives in their stores. It couldn't be simpler.
@chunksandwich: Suppliers will (and do) pay a premium for product location in a store.
Yes there are many decisions made by the stores (refrigeration or other requirements) as well as where they think things should be placed.
Profit being a big one, there have been trials of moving plant based foods in with meat and had shown increases, profit is basically the only motivator when it all boils down.https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/plant-based-meat-sales-…
"The research was done by the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA), an association representing 170 plant-based food companies, and U.S retail giant Kroger."
"The test yielded some impressive results: plant-based meat sales were up 32 percent during the test period in the Midwest region"
@91rs: 100%. Meat is relatively expensive, ergo meat replacements made from cheaper materials are also expensive when placed side by side.
Hope not!
So chicken soup but no chicken product in it, then it just soup isnt it? And that chicken tastes is chemically made?? Sound like china low quality food to me.This is why i dont get it, as a food lover if you want plant based food, fine, why tries to mimic a taste that is not what it supposes to taste like, to me it is an insult to the ingredients, you enhance it, not masking it. Its like you are eating camel…. But the taste isnt like what your mate describe so you spray au de parfume in it, nah nah nah, soldier on and it that liek a man
Don't know if you eat packet noodles but i think people would be surprised at how many packet noodles and soup flavourings actually have no meat at all in them. And yet they're labelled chicken flavour, pork, crispy bacon etc and consumers don't seem to mind.
Thats the thing, people know that it’s artificial flavour, its fake but this one disguised as veggie, with meat alike healthy and all but the artificial flavour is just as bad and i dont thing the named it veggie with artificial meat flavour, more of a veggie meat but no animal meat or some shit
and it that liek a man
not sure why you had to bring your sexuality into it but good for you, has to be better than the camel
what better than eating camel with a bit of burger sticking out? and that olive too
No, but we once purchased what we thought was 'Dairy Free' chocolate from Aldi. It was actually 'Diary Fine'.
And then you realised it didn't actually come with a fine diary?
As a Vegetarian. I don't want to eat this fake 'beef' anyway. But this is trying to appease meat lovers who are giving up so I am not the target.
As a person, I am lazy and don't want to make my own burger patties. I can't remember the last time I bought real meat - except this one time I bought meat thinking it was fake meat as it was in the wrong section in coles.
I accidentally bought 'fake' chicken tendies in the fresh chicken section once. I actually thought in that case the packaging was a little deceptive, at a glance could be read as free range chicken rather than chicken free.
https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/product/herb-sons-meat-…
Wasn't too disappointed. They actually tasted pretty good and not that different from actual chicken, just had a different texture.
I do think having the word Chicken on the packet is pushing the boundaries… the word tenders is free game… but a packet with the word chicken on it you tend to think at a glance it is chicken… very easy to see people in a rush grabbing these by accident as they look identical.
I have nothing against plant based meat alternatives, I think they are a great idea.
Anything is possible, I've accidentally picked up diet instead of the normal soft drink. Only realised after I drank it.
If it upsets people this much, then maybe they should take an extra second to check what they are buying so they won't get dissapointed.
When talking about everyone else: you made your choices, you need to take personal responsibility
When talking about themselves: reeee the giberment needs to save me from the scary free market
I bought the beyond burger by accident at Grilld, and hated it. But I don't blame anyone else.
I was hungry and didn't read past "buy one get one for free".
agree with article title, anything which it is not must be dropped from being shown in large bold letters
Well, many shoppers still buy, inadvertently, the "light" version of milk, drinks or whatever instead of the "full everything" they normally do.
So yes, it will be fair to avoid using meat, cows and etc when actually selling veggie paste.
More importantly, if SO PROUD about not selling real meat, why still using that offensive four letter word (meat)?
And cut all that senseless bull about health benefits of meat substitutes as well.
Pleeeease!.To appeal to their target audience. Like any company tries in their marketing strategy.
I suspect that this will have the Streisand effect
Honestly, I don’t think anybody is genuinely confused about these products, they’re just making it some weird political point. Meat is a status symbol.
Now that you've eaten it I presume, can you explain to us what 'chicken style' is please?
definitely not as strong and i needed to use more… i think the issue is that online it is just marketed as "chicken stock" you have to look at the picture to figure out its not really chicken
I have done the same (for the stock cube version of the same thing by the same company). It's the only time I've ever been confused about whether something was made from meat or not. And before anyone says "it has 'plant based' plastered on the front in big green writing", that label is actually new, for years before it was sold without that label, and the only way to know there was no chicken at all in their chicken stock was to read the list of ingredients (and it might have been a small font bullet point on the front, but it was definitely not obvious if you are rushing around a supermarket), so I think the big label was added because of that confusion.
Having said that, it tastes fine, I continue to buy it, and I have no problem with this (or any product) not using meat, the main thing is just to be very clear about whether a food contains animal products or not, where there's any reason for consumers to assume it would or would not.
This is almost impossible to do at a butcher's, right?
you can't, they aren't even in the same area. lol
Bought a chicken Parma frozen meal made of plants. Tasted good surprisingly but still don't know why they can put chicken in the name.
That's funny because chicken parma is an American/Australian adaption of the classic Italian dish eggplant parmigiana (parmigiana di melanzane)
A few months ago I was behind an older gentleman at Woolies who was returning his prawns because they didn’t taste right. The team member was nice enough to point out that they weren’t prawns, that they were fake. He got his money back. Looking at the packaging, and other products like it, it’s clear to me that it is not always obvious that it’s a recreation or imitation of the original.
Yeah the "plant based" needs to be the same font and size as "prawns", and be positioned right next to it (no gap), so you read the contents in one block of text, as "plant based prawns", or "fake prawns" or "synthetic prawns".
Assuming that’s what this bill is trying to prevent then this is pretty convincing
They should be not allowed to call it prawn in huge text with no qualifier directly adjacent to the word prawn. Or possibly not call it prawn at all. It’s just a manufactured vegetable food of some kind.
Senator name checks out: "The inquiry – initiated by Queensland Nationals senator and former butcher Susan McDonald"
Who eats meat, hoofmeat or no meat.
It's ok not everyone has average iq
I dont know why some people are supportive of false descriptions on here , we all generally understand that meat is from animals not processed soy crops. If they say calling false veggie meat - 'meat' is no big deal, then selling them maybe a fake watch or phone or anything else would also be ok….
As much as I hate it when they call the processed plant (whatever it is) “prawns”, I think about todays Easter eggs. They aren’t eggs in the true sense of the word. Much like this plant stuff, which I guess is essentially wood pulp, being called meat. We all understand Easter eggs to be chocolate. Yet an egg on toast is usually from a chicken.
Perhaps calling it veggie meat would be ok. Or fake meat. Veat? I dunno.
dont know why
Neither do I
Username checks out
Not an idiot so.. no.
But seriously.. I usually read the packaging before I buy it.
No
Hang on…plant-based meat are usually located in a different section/aisle to real meat, what kind of special person you gotta be to mistake them for the real deal?
Thats not always the case. My nearest Coles has it between the sausages and the chicken.
always tempted by the 'chicken free' and 'beef free', the price (free) seems tempting but I suspect there's no chicken or beef in it, so apart from the breach of advertising and product description standards, it should be free.
Yep. When I'm looking for vegan meat it's a PITA, let alone a tedious and time consuming process having read the fine print on things labelled "beef" or "meat" to work out if its actually vegan. Sometimes the vegan symbol is well hidden.
Vegan.. but wants meat..
Vegan 'meat' shouldn't even be called meat… They really should label it something else
Yep. I'm with you on that one. I don't care what its called as long as there is no chance of confusing it with real meat. Worst is the prepacked meals.
Yes. I bought the beyond burger at Grill'd when it was Buy One Get One For Free.
Didn't finish either of them because I hated the taste, smell and texture of them.
That's one me though, I'd still make the same mistake even if they bring in regulations about naming. I can't see past the word free :(
Not a big deal, I'm sure any of us who've made this mistake, will never make it again.
Each to their own, had one too, and actually quite liked it.
I think it's as simple as putting meat alternatives in one section and not writing about what they can or can't be called,
Each to their own
Agreed, glad you liked it.
I think it's as simple as putting meat alternatives in one section and not writing about what they can or can't be called
I think they do this at most places. And it's not a big deal anyway, we don't need even more rules just to prevent a few of us wasting like $20, one time, and learning not to do it again.
I once bought a 'grillsteak' which turned out to be a mince patty shaped like a steak and sprinkled with seasoning to make it look like a steak…. :/
That sounds disappointing :(
I had a steak at a pub a few days ago, and it seemed like it was microwaved. It was horrible :(
Wish I'd read the google reviews rather than just wondering in!
No, because plant based meat will be twice more expensive at the very least, I never pick something up without checking the price :)
Well I acknowledge that I am stupid but have never made this mistake…..
Edit: I guess it's a battle of the titans. Two separate lobbies going head to head.
I've never mistakenly bought vegan shit before thinking it was meat that's not a problem personally, but I do reckon they shouldnt be using names meant for meat. But if it's grown lab meat one day by all means its fine
I don’t have an issue with meat, milk or cheese becoming protected terms. We already protect terms including champagne and various cheese names.
Never mistaken. But doesn't mean it's ok for the lab grown edible food (they try to advertise it as "meat") industry to piggy back off the actual meat industry and then bad mouthing them simultaneously like a God given right.
To be clear, I don't work in the meat/ related industry.
There is another alternative to animal meat, or "plant based" (ie soy protein). The third kingdom.
You can get mycoprotein-based products like Quorn, which have a protein balance similar to real meat.
And yeast-based flavours can give a flavour similar to real meat, even with soy protein. Vegan does not have to mean plants-only.
No
But I did buy v2 mince on purpose once and it was great for tacos.
I feel like I could raise a child on plant based meat and they would feel like real meat was weird.
Should be made very clear, but some are very misleading.
They try hard to make the packaging look exactly like the meat ones and you can only tell sometimes by reading the ingredients, or some fine print that is hard to read.
It is appalling marketing that can lead to non-Vegans accidentally eating Vegan products, which is not ethical !!!!