ANALOGUE MEAT PRODUCTS: NEW REGULATIONS EXPLAINED

ANALOGUE MEAT PRODUCTS: NEW REGULATIONS EXPLAINED

• 23 July 2025
• Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development
• SA Legal Academy

The Department of Agriculture has issued a media statement explaining the implications of key provisions in recently gazetted analogue meat regulations, which will come into effect on 18 July 2026. This is noting that the term ‘analogue meat’ refers to products:

• also described as ‘meat substitutes, mock meat, faux meat, or imitation meat’
• initially defined in the processed meat regulations as approximating ‘the aesthetic qualities (primary texture, flavour and appearance) and/or chemical characteristics of a specific type of meat’
• ‘derived from non-meat ingredients, sometimes without dairy products’, and
• available in different forms.

Issued under the 1990 Agricultural Product Standards Act, once in force the new regulations will among other things:

• require the name of a product to meet specifications that enable consumers to:
  • ‘determine their true nature’ and use, and
  • distinguish them from other products
• prohibit the use of a product name that includes any reference to:
  • an animal species
  • animal morphology, and/or
  • animal anatomy cuts
• prohibit the use of certain words and phrases on analogue meat product labels and containers, and
• require certain meat analogue products to have a protein content of at least 9%.

Please click the links below for more information:

• regulations (in force from 18 July 2026)
• media statement

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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