500,000 consumers helped the plant-based food industry push back on the EU’s ban on use of terms such as soy “milk” and vegan “meat.”
This is a lesson to the hemp industry, which missed a brilliant opportunity to push back on the ludicrous Novel Food registration requirement for CBD, which has been in food longer than members have even been states.
Instead of immediately caving it should have used lobbying and litigation, plus a consumer action PR program. Eventually likely to win an exemption, every adult would know about CBD and half would want to buy it. The industry’s political power would have been massively increased.
“We decide something, then put it in the room and wait for a while to see what happens. If there is no big shouting and no riots because most people do not understand what has been decided, then we go on – step by step – until there is no going back.” Jean Claude Juncker, former E.U. President in Der Spiegel, December 27, 1999.”
From Brad Vanstone, founder of vegan cheese company Willicroft:
“Some pretty awesome news came in last night as many of you will have seen. After a year of deliberation, the EU decided to put an end to Amendment 171.
Last night I had the chance to reflect on the success of this campaign as well as the next steps from here. This decision cannot be a one off and we need to ensure the EU continues to place the health of our planet at the centre of it’s policy and decision making:
Lessons:
1) You can’t ignore 500,000 consumers – democracy is alive and well
2) The plant-based sector now has a voice
3) Company and consumer action is a match made in heaven
Where do we go from here:
1) Green New Deal – rather than wasting time on legislation that limits the growth of sectors supporting climate goals (AM171), we need to start rolling out this policy
2) Breaking down the CAP – 35% of the EU’s budget could be better spent protecting our planets future not inhibiting it
3) True costs accounting – it’s time we started paying the true cost for everything we consume – there is no silver bullet solution to fixing global warming but a carbon tax would dramatically change things
4) All eyes on Glasgow – it’s crucial that we put pressure on our politicians and corporations to double down on climate commitments at this Novembers global conference in Glasgow.”
Read more on the issue at: https://vegconomist-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/vegconomist.com/politics/breaking-dairy-lobbys-amendment-171-is-rejected-by-the-eu-parliament/amp/