Six years ago, I speculated in this column about what we might call man-made versions of protein, previously known as “meat”. At the time, “shmeat” was a popular word, but in the intervening period it seems plant-based products have become more popular than those experimental substances grown in laboratories, using animal tissue as a basis for their growth.

Though these products might still be more palatable to those who find the slaughter of animals abhorrent, they could still be called “meat” without necessarily falling foul of the proposed new regulations governing plant proteins in SA...