On June 14, 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union concluded that the designations such as ‘milk’, ‘cream’, ‘butter’, ‘cheese’ or ‘yoghurt’ cannot be legally used to designate a purely plant-based products.
The Court observes that, in principle, for the marketing purposes, the relevant legislation reserves the term ‘milk’ only for milk of animal origin. In addition, except where expressly provided, that legislation reserves designations like ‘cream’, ‘chantilly’, ‘butter’, ‘cheese’ and ‘yoghurt’ solely for milk products, that is products derived from milk. Therefore, purely plant-based product cannot be legally marketed with these designations.
Court of Justice of the European Union. Press Release No 63/17