The use of animal imagery on plant-based products should be banned, the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association says.
The organisation has submitted to a Senate inquiry on definitions of meat and animal products the use of such imagery and reference to animal flesh on meat-free product packaging was deceptive.
TFGA chief executive John McKew said animal imagery on plant-based products could be used as a ploy to evoke an emotive response from the consumer or as a marketing tactic to confuse them.
He said plant protein descriptors should not contain the words meat, chicken, beef, lamb or seafood.
Launceston plant-based food producer Julie Martyn said product labelling used by plant-based food manufacturing - that the meat industry considered appropriated - was not used to impair meat brands.
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"There is a long history of making plant-based products in the form of animal products and adopting familiar labelling terminology."
"Informed consumers are making conscious decisions to choose plant based options for the sake of the environment, for their health, and for reasons of animal welfare and ethics."
Launceston-based orthopaedic surgeon Gary Fettke and his wife Belinda submitted to the Senate committee that marketing opportunities from plant-based food manufactures hinged on creating a fear of meat.
They said this, and branding of substitutes as safer for human and planetary health, had resulted in a mass media and propaganda war.
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Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
Political reporter for Australian Community Media, based in Hobart.
