Global Table: ‘Chicken-free Chicken’ owner defends meat-free branding

A meat-alternative entrepreneur has defended the poultry-flavoured name for her pea-based “Chicken-Free Chicken”.

Sunfed Food founder Shama Sukul Lee. Picture: David Geraghty

CONSUMERS can differentiate between meat and plant-based protein despite the use of animal branding for the new-age vegetable produce, supporters claim.

Meat-alternative entrepreneurs and researchers joined a panel discussion at the Global Table forum in Melbourne last week.

Shama Sukul Lee, founder of Sunfed Food, defended the poultry-flavoured name for her pea-based “Chicken-Free Chicken”.

“In New Zealand, everyone was very happy with Chicken-Free Chicken except the poultry industry,” Ms Lee said.

“We were taken to the Commerce Commission and we won. Chicken-Free Chicken is very self-explanatory, I think we need to give consumers more credit.”

Only a few jurisdictions around the world have banned plant-based protein makers from using meat terminology, with the American state of Missouri leading the way for regulations protecting the use of terms such as “beef” and “hamburger”.

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Futurist for Food founder Tony Hunter said supermarket shoppers understood the difference between meat and plant-based product despite the adoption of beef, chicken and dairy names by the latter.

“There’s no butter in peanut butter, I was astounded by that,” he joked.

“Consumers need an anchor point, so they understand whether this (plant-based) product is for breakfast, lunch or dinner, for instance.”