
Coverage of the European Court of Justice decision in Verband Sozialer Wettbewerb eV v. TofuTown.com GmbH gave the impression that the court decided that, objectively speaking, plant substances do not qualify as ‘milk’ or ‘cheese’. In fact, the ECJ was bound to apply a longstanding EU regulation which restricts the use of these, and other related words, to products made from ‘mammary secretions’. A detailed look at the regulation is required in order to assess what restrictions apply to plant-based businesses operating in the UK, and the potential for the current rules to be changed.
Read more in the briefing below.