The European Parliament votes to ban meat names for plant-based foods

The European Parliament (EP) has voted to ban the use of words like “burger” or “steak” to describe its vegetarian variants.

The 355-247 vote is seen as a victory for ranchers who say the labels threaten their industry and livelihoods.

However, a complete ban is not imminent – or even certain – as the proposal needs the support of the European Commission – the EU’s executive arm – as well as the governments of the 27 member states to become law.

The plant-based food industry has grown significantly in recent years, with more and more people choosing a meat-free lifestyle.

“Let’s call a spade a spade,” Céline Emart, the French member of parliament who led the initiative, was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying about plant-based products.

A member of the European Parliament’s conservative EPP group said marketing vegan products using meat labels was “misleading to the consumer”.

Under the proposal, other labels such as “egg yolk,” “egg white” and “scallop” would be limited to products containing meat.

The European Union has already defined dairy products as products that come from “natural breast secretion.” This includes products such as milk, yoghurt and cheese.

For example, oat milk is called oat drink on European shelves.

Green and Liberal lawmakers have criticized the now-approved European Parliament text as “useless”.

“While the world burns, the EPP has nothing better to do this week than to engage us all in a debate over sausages and steaks,” Deutsche Welle quoted Anna Cavazzini of the German Green Party as saying.

Environmentalists said the ban would be a setback for sustainability.

The proposal has also drawn criticism from key voices in the food industry in Germany – the largest market for plant-based products in the European Union, according to a recent report. Good Food Institute Europe report.

Major German supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl, fast food restaurant Burger King and sausage producer Rügenwalder Mühle. They rejected the proposal in a joint open letter.

They said banning “familiar terms” would make it difficult for consumers to make informed decisions.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz – whose party is a key member of the European People’s Party – fully supports the ban. “A sausage is a sausage. A sausage is not a vegetarian,” he said recently.

The French meat industry also strongly supported this idea.

Back in 2020, a similar proposal was on the table but was not passed.