Fake food lobby told to drop anti-farm agenda before asking farmers to be friends

While grain growers might see alternative protein foods as a potential new market, traditional rivals in the livestock industries are not so sure.

Red meat industry leaders maintain the fake meat makers are still trying to piggy-back on their good name through false labelling on products.

The Red Meat Advisory Council, the peak group representing key farm and industry export groups, is still wary of Food Frontier, which it claims to be an anti-livestock special interest group.

Food Frontier organised the sell out AltProteins 22 conference in Melbourne on Tuesday which drew the support of the National Farmers' Federation through the participation of its vice president David Jochinke as a speaker.

A core theme of the conference was the need for farmers and fake food makers to resolve their differences in order to feed a fast growing world population.

Responding to the entreaty to be friends, Red Meat Advisory Council chair John McKillop said a balanced discussion was unlikely when Food Frontier's stated constitution was to reduce the consumption of animal products rather than seeking to meet the nutritional requirements of the growing population.

Mr McKillop said the Australian red meat and livestock industry was not opposed to alternative proteins.

"What we are opposed to is plant-based protein companies denigrating the brand and reputation of natural Australian beef, lamb and goat built over generations by deliberately trying to use piggyback marketing to sell their products, while also hiding the true nature of their highly processed composition - often doing so while using false and misleading environmental and sustainability claims."

He said the livestock industry's calls for a mandatory regulatory framework for the labelling of plant-based protein products - as backed by the recent Senate Inquiry - was never about reducing competition in the marketplace.

MORE READING: Australia's top five livestock regions revealed.

"It has always been about restoring truth in labelling for Australian consumers, while ensuring animal and manufactured plant-based protein industries compete on a level playing field.

"As long as plant-based protein products are truthfully labelled and marketed, we have no intention of standing in the way of the sector's capacity to develop and grow," he said.

"At the end of the day, if this sector wants to achieve its full potential, it needs to establish its own product categories and brands rather than trying to piggyback on established meat brands.

"It is disappointing the fake meat conference overlooked recent research which found that six in 10 Australians mistook a plant-based meat product for one containing animal meat and that there is widespread community support for clearer labelling, with 73 per cent of respondents agreeing that plant-based products should not be allowed to use the term 'meat'."

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