"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" — Juliet from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
In the world of fake news, we have fake cheese, fake burgers, fake milk. Several states has passed laws prohibiting the marketing of products as "milk," "rice," and "sausage" if they aren't actually milk, rice, and sausage.
Veggie burgers and soy milk have piggybacked on the backs of burgers and milk to show what the product is supposed to represent. Manufacturers weren't concerned when they had a small percentage of food sales. The increased interest becomes the theoretical threat.
Consumers don't get home with groceries thinking that grabbed meat or milk when they haven't. They know what they are buying.
Soy beverage or veggie patties aren't that different from soy milk and veggie burgers.
Having empathy or sympathy for meat and dairy manufacturers would be easier if they were equally as concerned about the defense of meat and cheese across the board.
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The United States is the land of pasteurized process cheese food, made from not less than 51 percent by "optional cheese ingredients." The USDA says any "meat taco filling" should at least have 40% fresh meat.
The obvious argument is that these products do contain meat and cheese, not a lot of them.
They are upset over soy milk but think non-dairy creamer is okay. Canada has the sensibility to call that product coffee whitener.
Fight these battles and then we can talk about soy milk and veggie burgers.
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The argument is that soy milk and veggie burgers are deceptions. Consumers know they aren't the real thing. Using the words "cheese," "dairy," "meat," and "creamer" are far more deceptive.
photo credit: Sargento
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