Thanks to the efforts of The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA), the Johannesburg High Court has issued an interdict against Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (“the Department”) and its designated assignee, the Food Safety Agency (Pty) Ltd (“the FSA”), in terms of which both the Department and the FSA are interdicted from seizing meat analogue products from retail outlets around the country.
The CGCSA was forced to apply to the High Court of South Africa on an urgent basis for the interdict as the FSA published a notice on Tuesday 16 August 2022, notifying all interested and affected parties that they would be implementing the seizures from Monday 22 August 2022.
The CGCSA will be seeking to overturn the decision of the FSA to arbitrarily seize meat analogue products by way of an appeal.
Welcoming the interdict, the CGCSA says it is imperative that all stakeholders work together to formulate regulations applicable to meat analogue products so as to ensure that no unauthorised action is taken against any of its members in the plant-based sector.
This follows the communique from DALRRD in June 2022 stating that meat analogues (ie plant-based meat alternatives) must not use the product names prescribed and reserved for processed meat products
