Meat-substitutes should not be allowed to call themselves burgers or sausages under rules voted through by the European Parliament.
MEPs have voted to simplify rules that govern the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
In doing so, pro-green NGOs fear MEPs have “shred the few remaining environmental safeguards in EU farm policy”.
The centre-right EPP group says it is about cutting red tape to allow farmers to get on with farming.
The measures include increasing aid for small farms to €75,000, doubling flat-rate payments to €5,000, and easing environmental rules and eligibility thresholds.
The European Commission said the simplification measures are needed to help farmers who are struggling.
“We are bringing back pragmatism in the Common Agricultural Policy”, said Agricultural Commissioner, Christophe Hansen, earlier this year when he announced the proposals.
“The Commission is on farmers’ side, and we are doing our best to cut the bureaucracy so they can focus on what they do best; producing food for all of us while protecting our natural resources. I am confident that these measures will deliver concrete results on the ground.”
But environmentalists disagree.
The changing will have “serious environmental damage, erode trust in democratic decision-making, and ultimately not improve the lives of the farmers it is meant to support”, according to the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).
An amendment by the EPP – not in the original proposal from the European Commission – will also demand a ban on meat substitutes using terms like burger or sausages.
Green MEP and Chair of the Internal Market Committee, Anna Cavazzini criticised the ban which she says will “primarily harm our companies in this growing market.”
“Especially for new customers or people experimenting with vegetarian alternatives, the use of terms like “steak” or “burger” is helpful in understanding how meat substitutes can be processed. Companies estimate that around 20 percent of their sales come from these new customers—a market that would be lost if such terms were banned.”
The socialists claimed that the amendment had side-tracked an important debate about improving the lives and livelihoods of farmers.
“The European Parliament voted on simplified EU agricultural regulations and measures to strengthen farmers in the food supply chain.
Instead of focusing on these urgently needed reforms, the European People’s Party [EPP] attempted to redirect the debate with an amendment restricting veggie designations. As a result, the Parliament has now voted in favour of a ban”, said Austrian Social Democrat MEP, Günther Sidl.
MEPs largely backed the European Commission simplification plans which are designed to reduce farmers’ paperwork and reduce the number of checks on farms.
WWF said weaker environmental rules provide a “blank cheque for polluting and destructive farming practices”.
“The worst part of this vote is that it dismantles the already limited environmental requirements that farmers must meet to receive CAP funding, without addressing the real causes of their struggles.
It completely misses the point of why farmers have been protesting for the past two years, and instead will accelerate the loss of healthy farmland, weaken the protection of sensitive ecosystems, and reduce our resilience to climate shocks”, said Laurence Modrego from WWF’s office in Brussels.
MEPs decided to introduce a new definition of meat as “edible parts of animals”.
Words like ‘steak’, ‘escalope’, ‘sausage’ or ‘burger’ must be “reserved exclusively for products containing meat and must exclude cell-cultured products”, the European Parliament said.
Discussions on the simplification rules will now be discussed with EU ministers. An agreement will need to be reached before the changes become law next year.