Parliament pushes for ‘veggie burger’ ban

Right-wing groups, as well as some socialists and liberals, voted on Wednesday to ban names such as “burger” and “steak” for plant-based products.

MEPs agreed to press the Commission and the Council to act on the labelling of vegetarian products, with 355 votes in favour, 247 against and 30 abstentions.

“A steak, an escalope, or a sausage are products from our livestock farms, period. No laboratory substitutes, no plant-based products,” MEP Céline Imart (EPP, France), who led the report in the agriculture (AGRI) committee, said a day before the vote.

The push was part of a vote on a proposal to review the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation aimed at strengthening farmers’ bargaining power.

Imart’s amendment would restrict the use of seven “meaty” terms: “steak”, “escalope”, “sausage”, “burger”, “hamburger”, “egg yolk”, and “egg white”.

Renew’s Barry Cowen (Ireland) failed to secure enough support for a softer alternative that would only ban names “explicitly tied” to animals, such as “beef”, “chicken” and “hamburger”.

“This will create clarity for both consumers and companies and will remove unintended consequences, like accidentally banning the term ‘tuna steak’,” Cowen said in his amendment, rejecting bans on “format-based” names.

Just the beginning

The Parliament’s position opens the door to interinstitutional negotiations with the Commission and the Council, which adopted their mandate in May.

While EU countries did not address labelling, farm ministers have long asked the Commission to crack down on “veggie meat”.

The EU executive responded to such calls in a separate, forward-looking review of the CMO regulation.

Still, the Commission did not go as far as the Parliament. It has not proposed banning “steak”, “burger” or “sausage” but only “bacon” and names of animals and their parts.

In Wednesday’s vote, MEPs backed the core provisions of the Commission’s proposal, which would introduce mandatory written contracts for deliveries of agricultural products.

However, they want to allow agricultural sectors to request national derogations – with the exception of the milk sector, where Imart says price volatility is particularly high.

Labelling, pesticides and hemp

Parliament used the CMO review as an opportunity to push for changes on several fronts.

The Socialists secured an amendment empowering the Commission to make country-of-origin labelling mandatory for a wide range of products, including rice, sugar, eggs, bananas, milk and even cut flowers.

MEPs also called for EU-wide rules on industrial hemp, with many arguing that national restrictions were hampering farmers. As with the debate over “meaty” terms, the Commission is addressing this issue in a separate CMO review.

The debate over pesticides and trade also featured in the vote. Parliament agreed that food and feed “may only be imported” if they comply with the maximum residue levels (MRLs) applicable to EU products.

UPDATE: This story has been updated with latest developments

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