Fake Meat

[Chris F]

Why can't meat be protected as a brand like Hugo Boss (in the news at the moment). Hugo protects his brand like a pitbull and has recently forced a brewery in South Wales to rebrand some "boss" beers. This caused Joe Lycette (legend) to change his name to Hugo Boss.

All this seems a bit funny, but in fact Hugo Boss are just defending their brand. The don't accept forgeries or fakes or consumers being misled. In fact it's illegal to sell fake Hugo Boss items in this country.

So why is it legal to sell fake meat?

If a butcher sold "Vegan Sausages" (but they had meat in them) there would be uproar. But Vegan Meatballs is allowed? So why is Vegan protected and Meat isn't by the ASA?

I think its because they have better lawyers than us. Meat as a industry needs to get serious about protecting its brands.

This - needs challenging:

So why isn't it?

 

[Dry Rot]

Sorry to digress, but I recently had a couple of days in hospital and have to say the food was really excellent. No wonder they are full! At one meal I got beef something or other. Sorry, I didn't feel much like taking notes. The meat (allegedly beef) was in he form of a small block, about double the size of a box of matches, beef coloured and beef tasting, but I could cut it with a fork. It did look as if it might be something artificial but the taste was OK. Any ideas?

 

[Turkish_FR]

It is not meat balls, it is "Rehydrated Textured Soya Protein Onion Puree Basil" balls

Manufacturers should not be allowed to write misleading things on food labels.

 

[melted welly]

They should just shorten the wordy branding to “McCartneys Balls”.

 

[milkloss]

So why isn't it?

Because our representative organisations are too worried about electronic tagging of cattle, whole life assurance and the general increase in assurance scheme rubbish (I didn't fcking well type rubbish!) than they are actually doing something useful.
Oh, and they don't have the balls.............

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Agreed.

Don't get me started on "milk"....

 

[ColinV6]

Technically “meat” isn’t a brand.... it’s a thing.

Hugo boss is a brand. That’s like saying Hugo Boss should protect against clothes made out of a non material.... errrr material.

I do also get really annoyed that vegan products are classed as their normal mean versions.

 

[Treg]

Because our representative organisations are too worried about electronic tagging of cattle, whole life assurance and the general increase in assurance scheme rubbish (I didn't fcking well type rubbish!) than they are actually doing something useful.
Oh, and they don't have the balls.............

.....or maybe they have but there fake ones

 

[Yale]

Technically “meat” isn’t a brand.... it’s a thing.

Hugo boss is a brand. That’s like saying Hugo Boss should protect against clothes made out of a non material.... errrr material.

I do also get really annoyed that vegan products are classed as their normal mean versions.

Meat comes from animals,fish or birds....or humans....but that can be a regional term.

 

[Bald Rick]

Wish this was in “Off Topic” ....

Then we could discuss the case of the lass who pretended to be a lad

But I have to say that I really don’t understand why vegetarian/vegan food has to pretend to be a recognised meat product

 

[Muddyroads]

I said this on another thread, but it perhaps warrants repeating. In a branch of Costa in Bristol in January, the woman in front of us ordered a “vegan ham and cheese toasty”.
My initial reaction was WTF! I spent the next 15 minutes looking over at her wondering what she was eating and whether she had any idea too.
Ultimately this whole fake meat thing comes down to labelling and surely only meat can legally be meat. Whilst I love the idea of vegan sausages being called “fungus tubes”, a sausage is a processed tube of food, so I’m not so sure that’s a particularly good example, but fake steak or meatballs cannot be right.

 

[Chris F]

Technically “meat” isn’t a brand.... it’s a thing.

Hugo boss is a brand. That’s like saying Hugo Boss should protect against clothes made out of a non material.... errrr material.

I do also get really annoyed that vegan products are classed as their normal mean versions.

Agree about Hugo boss, but vegan is also a thing. With a very wish washy definition.

ASA state that consumers can’t be misled. Meat has a clear definition.

 

[Chris F]

Because our representative organisations are too worried about electronic tagging of cattle, whole life assurance and the general increase in assurance scheme rubbish (I didn't fcking well type rubbish!) than they are actually doing something useful.
Oh, and they don't have the balls.............

It’s not a tough task though. Give lots of money to the law firm that Hugo Boss use. Done. Still leaves plenty of time for assurance.

Or is the point really that defending meat isn’t necessary? Or even counter productive.

 

[Bald Rick]

... but vegan is also a thing.

Thought it was a philosophical belief as determined in a court of law

 

[thesilentone]

The question is, will people mistakenly buy the 'Meatballs ' because they think they contain meat ?

I think some will, so the labeling is misleading as they don't contain Meat, Oh, and before someone comes on about reading labels, I am from the real World.

If it said "Rehydrated Textured Soya Protein Onion Puree Basil balls " no one would buy them. So the objective is clearly, to deceive the buyers.

The ASA will do nothing, as they are completely useless.

 

[Chris F]

Thought it was a philosophical belief as determined in a court of law

Veganism as a belief has been protected by the courts now in th UK.

 

[milkloss]

It’s not a tough task though. Give lots of money to the law firm that Hugo Boss use. Done. Still leaves plenty of time for assurance.

Or is the point really that defending meat isn’t necessary? Or even counter productive.

no, it's not difficult. I see it the same as when RT didn't kick off when the tesco horse gate thing happened: they weren't sure there wasn't horse involved with RT beef!

perhaps they feel their own house isn't in order.

 

[Bald Rick]

Veganism as a belief has been protected by the courts now in th UK.

That’s what I said

Now, can I have some points please?

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Veganism as a belief has been protected by the courts now in th UK.

That’s what I said

Now, can I have some points please?

So does that mean that the opposite must also be a belief?

Cue the legal action taken when a carnivore enters a vegan restaraunt and asks for meat only to be denied........

 

[Scribus]

Why can't meat be protected as a brand like Hugo Boss (in the news at the moment). Hugo protects his brand like a pitbull and has recently forced a brewery in South Wales to rebrand some "boss" beers. This caused Joe Lycette (legend) to change his name to Hugo Boss.

All this seems a bit funny, but in fact Hugo Boss are just defending their brand. The don't accept forgeries or fakes or consumers being misled. In fact it's illegal to sell fake Hugo Boss items in this country.

So why is it legal to sell fake meat?

If a butcher sold "Vegan Sausages" (but they had meat in them) there would be uproar. But Vegan Meatballs is allowed? So why is Vegan protected and Meat isn't by the ASA?

I think its because they have better lawyers than us. Meat as a industry needs to get serious about protecting its brands.

This - needs challenging:

So why isn't it?

I guess its because one is a proper noun while the other isn't. But you are right about vegan meatballs, that's simply contradictory and indeed should be questioned by the ASA.

While on the subject there was a prog on the box the other night explaining how Adolf was a veggie and his party tried to turn Germany into a vegertarian society, If I remember rightly during the war the Brits ate twice the meat that the Germans did despite rationing. That worked out well for the master race.