From vegconomist.com
The dispute over whether plant-based products can be labelled with terms such as “burger” and “sausage” has returned to the European Parliament, after members tabled amendments to the ongoing full revision of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation over the summer break.
The amendments, published by the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) on 23 July, come from members of the EPP, Patriots for Europe and ECR groups, and form part of the ongoing full revision of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation. If adopted, they would expand the restrictions beyond the 31 animal-associated terms that Parliament approved in June, when format-based names such as “burger”, “sausage” and “nugget” were left permitted.
The proposals reopen a dispute over plant-based product naming that has now returned to the EU agenda three times in six years. The Agriculture Committee is due to debate the amendments on 2 September, followed by technical meetings and a committee vote scheduled for December. The plenary vote will take place next year.
A debate at odds with the Protein Action Plan
Both the European Alliance for Plant-based Foods (EAPF) and the No Confusion Coalition, which represents more than 600 companies, retailers, investors, and consumer and environmental organisations across 22 EU countries and is coordinated by WePlanet and the European Vegetarian Union, have rejected the amendments.
The EAPF argues that the amendments conflict with the European Commission’s EU Protein Action Plan, published on 7 July, which sets out a framework for scaling up domestic plant protein production and reducing the bloc’s reliance on imported feed. The Commission has said it wants to raise the share of EU-grown protein used in animal feed from around 26% to 35% within the next decade.
“These proposals harm the EU’s Protein Action Plan”
“These proposals harm the EU’s Protein Action Plan, which aims to reduce dependency on feed imports by promoting plant-based value chains. Imposing unnecessary restrictions and bureaucracy on food manufacturers and limiting consumer choice is counterproductive for a thriving plant-based sector,” the alliance stated.
Thomas Schobesberger, Secretary General of the Brussels-based EAPF, questioned the timing of the amendments against the backdrop of drought and heatwaves affecting European agriculture.
“These proposals look more like a grocery list for the meat lobby’s summer BBQ than a legislative document. It is simply unbelievable how some MEPs are making this useless debate a political priority when European farmers are struggling, due to an historic drought and heatwave,” he said.
Repeated reopening of settled agreements
The EAPF also contends that reintroducing the naming question after the June vote weakens the Parliament’s standing as a co-legislator.
“This also undermines Parliament’s authority. If Europe’s only directly elected institution repeatedly reopens agreements until the result favours particular interests of the meat lobby, it cannot expect to be taken seriously. This weakens its position as a co-legislator on all files and harms the European idea,” Schobesberger said.
Coalition questions the timing
The No Confusion Coalition has raised similar objections, questioning why the naming debate has resurfaced during a difficult summer for European agriculture. “This is the third time in six years, and the second time during the current parliamentary term, that the European Parliament will vote on banning the words ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ for plant-based products.
“MEP’s have been hard a work during the summer while Europeans were struggling with wildfires, droughts and rising costs of living, to once again bring back this non-sense topic,” said Rafael Pinto of the European Vegetarian Union, spokesperson for the coalition.
The naming dispute has run alongside the CMO revision since 2020, when the EAPF first coordinated opposition to the so-called “veggie burger ban”. The alliance’s position is that existing EU legislation already provides sufficient protection for meat and dairy product names, and that plant-based producers require market stability rather than further labelling constraints.
“As an increasing number of European farmers are diversifying into plant protein production, they need markets, investment and stability, not a fight over words,” the alliance stated.
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