Only meat will be able to use terms like steak, wings or tenderloin under EU rules agreed between farming ministers and MEPs.
Negotiators pushed back on proposals to a ban on the terms ‘sausages’ and ‘burgers’ meaning that labels such as veggie burgers or plant-based sausages will still be allowed.
“Arguing that these meaty names create confusion amongst consumers is nonsense. Our data shows that around 70 percent of consumers agree with these names as long as products are clearly labelled vegetarian or vegan”, said Augstín Reyna from consumer organisation, BEUC.
“Consumers want to eat healthier and need convenient and affordable options. These names make it easy for those who want to integrate these options in their diets, and the new rules will increase confusion and are simply not necessary”, she warned.
Farming ministers said they had pulled off a “protection of ‘meat’ term[s]…to enhance transparency in the internal market and enable well-informed consumer choices.”
“These terms shall be reserved for meat products only, therefore they cannot be used for products that do not contain meat such as for instance cell-cultured”, ministers said.
The full list of terms that will only be allowed for meat includes: beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, ovine, goat, drumstick, tenderloin, sirloin, flank, loin, steak, ribs, shoulder, shank, chop, wing, breast, liver, thigh, brisket, ribeye, T-bone, rump and bacon.
“Fortunately, the conservative word police has failed to ban the ‘veggie burger.’ Unfortunately, a number of other words still end up on the blacklist. That’s a shame, Europe should be backing innovative entrepreneurs, not putting new obstacles in their way”, said Dutch Volt party MEP, Anna Strolenberg.
“Farmers are the ones who lose with this outcome. We should have spent this time strengthening their bargaining power and improving their contracts. Instead, far too little has been done [on that].”
Seitan steak, tofu steak, mushroom steak, veggie wings and even veggie foie gras have become common on supermarket shelves.
Now they will have to find a new way of branding themselves.
The provisional agreement is expected to be endorsed by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament in a final vote before it becomes law.