European Parliament lawmakers voted on Wednesday to prohibit the use of meat terms like burger or sausage to market so-called ‘veggie’ alternatives.
MEPs in Strasbourg voted by a margin of 355 to 247 in favour of an amendment to ban terms such as “veggie-burger” or “vegan sausage” to protect farmers from deceitful competition. The text also cited terms such as “egg yolk” and “egg white”, Reuters reported.
The EU had previously set out that diary products are specifically those “secreted by mammary glands” such as butter, cheese, cream, milk or yoghurt, while products such as oat milk should be termed oat drink or some other non-dairy referencing term.
The final determination on the fate of “veggie burgers” will have to wait, however, with the bill set to be negotiated between the EU Parliament, the European Commission and the governments of the 27 member states.
Nevertheless, the sponsor of the motion, centre-right MEP Céline Imart described the vote as a “great victory for farmers at the European Parliament!”
“A sausage is meat produced by our breeders. Period. The recognition of their work and transparency towards consumers have won support,” she said.
The French Livestock and Meat Industry (Interbev) agreed with the MEP, saying per broadcaster BFMTV that by “appropriating meat names for marketing purposes,” plant-based alternatives “blur the lines and weaken the recognition of a raw, 100 per cent natural product.”
Unsurprisingly, the Greens were less enthused about the bill, with Dutch MEP Anna Strolenberg criticized the “meat lobby” for “attempting to weaken its innovative competitors in the food sector.”
Others were simply indifferent, with German MEP Peter Liese saying that it was a “shame” for the European Parliament to devote time to “such stupidity.”
“We must not take consumers for fools. If a package says ‘veggie burger’ or ‘veggie sausage,’ everyone can decide whether or not to buy it,” he said.
However, the vote could have implications further afield than the EU. Indeed, Northern Ireland, which was forced under many of the European Union regulatory frameworks following poor Brexit negotiating by London, may see items such as Greggs Vegan sausage roll be renamed to ‘vegan tubes’ or the like, GB News reported.
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