THREAT TO PRODUCERS OF LEATHER, DAIRY PRODUCTS AND BEEF

A wily threat to animal product producers grows worldwide.

For a long time, the man-made product industry has been trying to eliminate animal products from the market by developing synthetic products with similar aspect to natural ones but with lesser properties. The purpose has been partially achieved resulting in health risk and/or discomfort to consumers.

This historical wicked act started over half a century ago when the plastics industry began developing a synthetic material that highly resembled leather placing it on the market by means of a strong advertising campaign seeking to trick the consumer based only on product appearance. Brazil, one of the world’s largest leather producers, reacted and in 1965, in a pioneering action passed a law prohibiting the use of the term “leather” when referring to any  material not of animal origin.

This immoral mockery, stimulated by the growing vegan movement, has broadened and now advances upon food threatening cheese and beef with artificial products created from vegetable components . 

Cheese, for example, is widely marketed under the term “cheese” even though it is does not contain milk in its composition but is made from hydrogenated vegetable fat and modified starch which poses risks to human health and causes serious ailments such as heart, liver and central nervous system disease as well as breast cancer.

Equally, vegetable products imitating beef based on soy, peas, chick peas, etc. are being widely and wrongly marketed under the term “beef”.

Once more, the reigning omission confuses consumers and leads them to error thus compromising the economic health of the natural product industry.

The surge of similar threats suggests that the tanning, dairy and beef sectors should set up joint political articulation so as to create specific legislation prohibiting the use of the terms “leather”, “cheese” and “beef” when referring to products of non-animal origin. 

The resulting legislation would mainly benefit the consumer by repressing the trickery, the fraud and the ensnarement.

LUIZ BITTENCOURT – Metallurgical Engineer/UFF/RJ/Brazil; Master of Engineering./McGill University/Montreal/Canada; Postgraduated in International Trade /UniversidadeMackenzie/SP/Brazil – [email protected]

HÉLIO MENDES – Former Executive Director of Center for the Brazilian Tanning Industry – CICB – www.institutolatino.com.br