Plant-Based Products Cannot Be “Milk, ” ECJ Rules
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that plant-based
products cannot use milk- or dairy-related terms for product
names or in marketing because the terms are “exclusively”
reserved for animal-milk products under EU law. Verband
Sozialer Wettbewerb eV v. Tofu Town.com GmbH, Case C
422/16 (order entered June 14, 2017). Verband Sozialer
Wettbewerb eV, a German trade group, asked a regional German
court for an injunction against Tofu Town, a producer of
vegetarian and vegan products marketed with names such as
“veggie cheese,” “Soyatoo tofu butter” and “rice spray cream.” The
regional court referred the dispute to the Court of Justice for a
preliminary ruling.
The court found that EU Regulation 1308/2013 reserves the term
“milk” for animal-derived products such as cheese, cream, butter,
yogurt and kefir, and further, non-bovine products must specify
the animal species from which the milk originates because the
regulation defines milk as the product of “the milking of one or
more cows.” Accordingly, the court said, the word “milk” “cannot,
in principle, be lawfully used to designate a purely plant-based
product.” Although the rule specifies some exceptions—including
terms for creamed vegetables or soups—it does not exempt
references to soy or tofu products, the court said. The court held
that milk-related terms can only be used for animal-derived milk
and milk products, not for plant-based products “in marketing or
advertising, even if those terms are expanded upon by clarifying or
descriptive terms indicating the plant origin of the product at
issue.”
Information about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s
regulatory treatment of plant-based “milk” appears in Issue 607 of
this Update.
Issue 638
