Spanish Court Hands Heura Big Win in David vs Goliath Case Brought by Meat Lobby

An appeals court in Barcelona has overturned a first-instance ruling to clear plant-based brand Heura of most unfair competition claims in a case initiated by the meat industry.

A Spanish court has preserved the freedom of expression of the plant-based industry with a ruling against the meat lobby.

The Provincial Court of Barcelona has ruled on an appeal by six meat industry trade groups against Heura Foods, a local plant-based meat player, stating that the latter’s marketing campaign between 2020 and 2022 did not violate free competition.

The appeals court overturned a first-instance ruling to clear Heura Foods of the vast majority of unfair competition claims against it, noting that its advertising campaign was protected under the freedom of expression to criticise the practices of the livestock industry.

“This ruling is particularly significant because it not only validates Heura’s messages as being grounded in scientific evidence but also warns that broadly censoring them would have amounted to an unacceptable restriction on freedom of expression,” said Gemma Gaya, partner at law firm Redi Abogados, which represented Heura.

Heura’s marketing ‘not false or inaccurate’, rules court

The case dates back to 2022, when meat industry groups Interporc, Provacuno, Interovic, Asici, Avianza, and Intercun sued Heura for unfair competition. The brand had gained a reputation for eye-catching, aggressive social media campaigns fuelled by social activism.

During the 2020-22 period, the vegan meat maker posted thousands of messages denouncing the meat industry’s practices and highlighting the harm they cause to public and planetary health.

Heura has highlighted the imbalance between the two sides. The claimant organisations collectively represented more than €31B in annual revenue, while the plant-based meat company was only generating €17M a year.

At first, Barcelona’s commercial court ruled in favour of the meat industry, but the appeals court overturned nearly the entirety of that decision, stating that Heura’s social media messages could not be considered misleading, denigrating, or a form of unlawful comparison.

The ruling notes how Heura’s posts relied on scientific evidence from the likes of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition, Harvard University, and the University of Oxford.

The court suggests that it “cannot conclude that the messages are false or inaccurate”, adding that “Heura ordinarily cites its source, with nothing to suggest the citation is mistaken”.

It further cites Article 20 of the Spanish Constitution, which relates to the right to freedom of expression, stating: “Imposing the requested blanket sentence would have constituted an unacceptable restriction.”

The appeals court dismissed the appeal in all material respects and ordered the meat lobby to pay the costs, although the latter can still appeal this decision in the Supreme Court.

Court clears use of plant-based meat labels

The only claim upheld by the court was regarding a 2020 campaign in which Heura claimed that “a beef burger pollutes more than your car” on advertising banners that have since been removed. The court concluded that the company should have phrased the message more precisely, given its complexity.

In a press release, Heura accepted the court’s assessment that, considering the broad public reach of its campaign, greater context was required.

And while the Spanish court upheld Heura’s use of terms like ‘burger’, ‘chorizo’ or ‘sausage’ on its packaging when the products’ plant-based nature is clearly communicated, it ruled that the company couldn’t use animal-related imagery.

This came a day after the European Parliament voted in favour of a ban on 31 meat-related terms on plant-based labels, which now just requires final approval from all member states. Terms excluded from this legislation include the aforementioned ones, as well as those describing some of Heura’s other products, such as ‘nuggets’ and ‘ham’.

“There was an attempt to silence a conversation this country needs, and the courts have protected the right to have it. This ruling goes far beyond Heura: the entire agrifood sector wins with it,” said Heura co-founder and CEO Marc Coloma.

“Limiting the tools to innovate and communicate doesn’t protect the food sector – it weakens it. When we stop new solutions from reaching the market, we all lose: consumers, companies, farmers, industry, and the chance for Europe to lead the future of food.”

Heura is now aiming to turn the ruling into a proposal for a protein transition, citing research from Systemiq and the Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe showing that investment in this shift with moderate policy support could add up to €10B in annual gross value and 34,000 jobs to Spain’s economy by 2040. This rises to €111B and over 400,000 jobs across Europe.

Spain’s plant-based meat industry needs a boost, with GFI Europe research revealing that these products suffered from a 6.3% dip in sales last year. That said, Heura has been riding high, becoming profitable for the first time in Q1 2026 and reaching its highest market share yet, twice that of its nearest competitor.