The Consumer Goods Council of SA has managed to stave off – indefinitely – the planned seizure of certain plant-based products from its members' supermarket shelves, pending a review of government's decision to do so in the first place.

A Fin24 report says government had wanted to ban the use of certain product names for plant-based meat alternatives on the basis that they were too similar to the names of processed meat products, which could potentially confuse consumers.

But the victory in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) saw the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development and its agency, the Food Safety Agency, interdicted from seizing any goods, pending the outcome of the council's application to review the decision to seize the products.

The judgment stated that if perishable goods were seized from all intended points, there was a ‘risk of real and irreparable financial harm’.

If the seizures were not interdicted, it added, the pending review application would be moot. The council said its main argument was that the planned seizure of these vegetarian and vegan products constituted ‘significant overreach’.

Lawtons Africa attorney Sarah Goldman – who represents plant-based advocacy group ProVeg – said it was the ‘biggest victory’ the plant-based food segment in SA could hope for at present, adding the court was effectively saying the state could not touch these products because there was a ‘valid fight being fought’ and the legal process had to run its course.

She said ProVeg and producers in the meat analogue industry were looking forward to the outcome of the review application, which would hopefully provide clarity for future regulation.

The ultimate goal, she said, was to create regulations specifically for the meat analogue industry that were geared towards its specific needs.

Full Fin24 report