According to Portugal, vegan leather is not allowed to be compared to real leather.
It is now ruled in Portugal that if a company uses the word ‘leather’ in a cruelty-free item such as pleather or pineapple skin, they can be severely fined and face serious consequences.
This ruling has come into place after the vegan alternatives to leather have grown in popularity. The growth in vegan leather marketing was thought to be the motivation behind the new legal actions to parent further sales.
In 2020, the European parliament voted against banning terms such as burgers, steak or bacon, saying the wording on vegetarian/vegan alternatives is in fact, beneficial to the environmental issues.
In 2017, EU Parliament also voted Yes to Amendment 171. This means companies cannot name vegan products with similarity to dairy products. Hence, why oat or soy drinks aren’t actually labelled ‘Milk’.
European Consumer Organisation congratulated MEPs for showing’ common sense’.
They said in a comment, ‘Consumers are in no way confused by a soy steak or chickpea-based sausage, so long as it is clearly labelled as vegetarian or vegan.’
Do you think vegan products should be compared to animal products?
