From vegconomist.com
The European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development has voted to adopt a proposal that would prevent plant-based foods from being labelled with “meaty” terms such as “steak”, “escalope”, and even “burger” or “sausage”.
The proposal was put forward by French MEP Céline Imart, and is part of a revision of the Common Market Organization Regulation. It will now be subject to a plenary vote that includes all European Parliament members.
The news comes after a similar European Commission proposal was announced earlier this year, aiming to prevent plant-based products from using 29 “meaty” terms. These include “beef”, “pork”, and “chicken”, but not “burger” or “sausage”.
Proponents of the proposals claim that plant-based products are misleading consumers by using meat-like names. However, many plant-based advocates disagree, citing research which shows that most consumers do not object to the use of meaty terms for plant-based foods if the products are clearly labelled as vegan or vegetarian. It is often argued that efforts to restrict the labelling of plant-based foods are brought about by lobbying from the meat industry, which perceives meat-free alternatives as a threat.
“Consumers are not confused”
A similar amendment was voted on but ultimately rejected by MEPs in 2020. At the time, a petition to stop the restrictions from coming into force received over 100,000 signatures.
Furthermore, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled last year that no EU member state could prevent plant-based meat producers from using terms traditionally associated with animal foods, as long as the products’ ingredients were clearly shown on labels.
“We have abundant data from several EU countries showing that consumers are not confused by the use of these terms and are not buying plant-based products by accident,” said Rafael Pinto, Senior Policy Manager at the European Vegetarian Union, earlier this year. “This proposal has nothing to do with consumer protection and transparency. Artificially restricting the use of meat terms would be a waste of public resources and an undue restriction of European entrepreneurship and innovation.”
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