The European Union (EU) Parliament has voted to ban the use of the term “veggie-burger” and limit food descriptions such as steak, escalope and sausage to products containing meat, as part of a proposed EU law to protect farmers, Reuters reported.
On 8 October, EU lawmakers had voted by 355 to 247 in favour of an amendment to a regulation aimed at giving farmers a stronger negotiating position so that powerful companies in the food supply chain did not impose unfavourable conditions, the report on the same date said.
The text of the final regulation will follow negotiations between representatives of the Parliament, EU governments and the Commission, with the Parliament backing a ban of terms such as “veggie-burger” or “vegan sausage”, according to the report.
Its meat-only list also includes “hamburger”, “egg yolk” and “egg white”.
The EU had already defined dairy items milk, butter, cream, yoghurt and cheese as “products secreted by mammary glands”, meaning that what might otherwise be called oat milk would instead be generally referred to as oat drink, Reuters wrote.
A ban on using such terms on plant-based food would be redundant, according to some critics of the proposal, quoted in an 8 October Food Navigator
report.
“Europe is the biggest consumer market globally for plant-based meat alternatives, a market from which EU farmers will benefit hugely as it creates higher-value markets for pulses, soya, wheat, fungi, nuts and vegetables – many of which are already grown in Europe,” said Jasmijn de Boo, global CEO of advocacy organisation ProVeg International.
De Boo also said current legislation already prevented consumer confusion.
In 2020, EU lawmakers had voted against a proposal to ban the use of meat-related terms for plant-based alternatives, the Reuters report said.
