Bag of Milton’s Protein Crackers at Costco Langford BC. Why bother advertising that it is “plant-based” when it contains milk? I mean, I’ve seen products stating that they “may contain milk” but this one straight up says it does black on white!

I’m being gaslit by a bag of crackers…

  • TheJesusaurus@piefed.caEnglish
    278·
    2 months ago

    Plant based and containing milk are not mutually exclusive…

    If it was vegan it’d say vegan?

    • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
      215·
      2 months ago

      People usually assume plant based means “it’s made entirely of plants” not “it’s mostly made of plants”

      Since, by the second definition, anything not mostly animal products is plant based. Kind of pointless.

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
          77·
          2 months ago

          Then a meatloaf is plant based because it has crackers and spices in it. Fried chicken is plant based because it’s breaded. 🤡

          • glimse@lemmy.worldEnglish
            31·
            2 months ago

            What an obnoxiously stupid comparison lol

            If you eat a salad with chicken, that’s meat-based protein

            If you eat one with beans, that’s plant-based protein

            This label isn’t abusing language to make a false claim. It’s meat-free protein

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
              24·
              2 months ago

              Uh huh.

              So if it’s a bean burrito made with added lard and cheese, it’s plant based? After all, it’s plant-based protein!

              It’s nonsense. What’s even the point of having a label that says “plant based” if it doesn’t mean “made of plants”?

              • glimse@lemmy.worldEnglish
                31·
                2 months ago

                The burrito would have plant-based protein, yes. The burrito would not be plant-based. It doesn’t say the chips are plant-based, it says the protein is plant-based. Like it doesn’t even seem like they’re trying to trick you.

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
                  2·
                  1 month ago

                  What the fuck? The whole reason people buy things that are plant-based is because they don’t want to eat animals - either vegans or environmentalists or other conscious consumers. No one who is shopping for plant based protein wants lard in their food. What’s the point of the “plant-based” label if it doesn’t mean “made of plants”? Who is it for? It’s fucking stupid.

                  Why are you defending this? These kinds of ticky-tacky advertising technicalities just make the consumer’s experience worse.

                  • glimse@lemmy.worldEnglish
                    1·
                    1 month ago

                    I think you’re misreading the label. The two highlighted things are “milk” and “lait,” not lard. Lait is French for milk.

          • certified_expert@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            2 months ago

            I agree in that it is misleading. But if you think “like a lawyer” it is technically correct. Hence, they can put it in the box

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
              22·
              2 months ago

              But if you think “like a lawyer” it is technically correct.

              Or if you think like a scam artist.

              Laws I’m familiar with are based on what a reasonable consumer would think, and it’s reasonable to think “plant based” means “made of plants”. They can get away with a lot of weasel words and misleading statements, but there are limits.

              But maybe the standard in BC is different.

      • Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.worldEnglish
        44·
        2 months ago

        Based =/= made entirely from.

        But I am also the person who gets frustrated in the freezer section when companies use green packaging and the food is NOT vegan or vegetarian.

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
          94·
          2 months ago

          If it doesn’t mean “made entirely from” then it doesn’t mean anything.

          By that definition, spaghetti and meatballs is plant based as long as it’s mostly made of wheat and tomato sauce.

          Gibberish.

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
              13·
              2 months ago

              It doesn’t meet the “reasonable consumer” standard. A reasonable consumer would not think “plant based” means anything other than “made entirely of plants” - though that’s US law, no idea about BC.

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.mlEnglish
                  2·
                  1 month ago

                  Again, this implies nonsense like all pizzas being plant based because the pizza is mostly made of wheat. It effectively makes the label meaningless, just a way to trick people and not actually meaningful information.

                  I could see a lawsuit coming out of it. It’s a misleading label, and they have to know it.

    • swicano@programming.devEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      There was a big push a few years ago to come up with an alternative to “vegan” to put on packaging, and they came up with “Plant-based” as the euphemism of choice. I don’t recall what the major driver was, it was either from vegans who say veganism entails more than just “don’t put animal products directly into the product” or if it was manufacturers who thought the word “vegan” would scare away normies after decades of bad mouthing.

      I saw it coming immediately that plant-based doesn’t mean “vegan but they didn’t bother certifying” but rather that it means “has some part that is mostly plants”, see the Jimmy Dean plant based patty sandwiches.

      If it ain’t got that (V) you gotta start deciphering the ingredients list cause those Fulkerson will put in anything