Swiss Federal Supreme Court bans meat terms for vegan products

The Swiss Federal Supreme Court has ruled that vegan products may not use terms such as ‘salami’, ‘ham’, or ‘mortadella’ on their packaging. This decision upholds a previous ruling by the Thurgau Administrative Court.

The legal dispute involved three vegan products manufactured by the German company Rügenwalder Mühle and distributed by Lidl Switzerland. The Thurgau Cantonal Laboratory had originally flagged these labels in 2022, citing food protection laws.

Lidl Switzerland argued that the overall packaging design prevented any consumer deception, but the court rejected this defense. The judges stated that under Swiss food law, these specific terms are reserved exclusively for meat products. The ruling aligns with previous court decisions prohibiting terms like ‘planted chicken’ or ‘milk’ for plant-based alternatives, maintaining that ‘milk’ is legally defined as a product derived from mammalian mammary secretions.