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Vive La Veggie Burger! EU Says Plant-Based Meats Can Keep Their Name

by Chris Albrecht
October 23, 2020October 23, 2020Filed under:
  • Business of Food
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There’s good news for European vege- and flexitarians! Instead of having to order and shop for veggie “discs” and “tubes” they can order veggie burgers and sausages.

The European Parliament today rejected a proposal from the EU agriculture committee submitted last year to ban the use of meat labels like “burger” and “sausage” on similar plant-based substitutes. Proponents of the legislation believed that terms like “burger” on veggie products would cause confusion in the marketplace. Thankfully, common sense prevailed and you don’t have to shop for plant-based “pucks.”

We’re having our own labeling fight here in the U.S., where a number of states have put forward their own legislation banning plant-based products from using terms like burger and meat. Mississippi, one of the states advancing the restrictive re-naming agenda, wound up easing its policies, allowing terms like “veggie burger” to be used.

These labeling laws seem meant to stifle competition, especially at a time when sales of plant-based meats are on the rise. As we wrote last year:

Big Meat trying to quash alterna-meats’ popularity by telling companies how they can or can’t label themselves feels protectionist and ineffective, not to mention desperate, at this point. After all, the flexitarian movement is gaining strength not because consumers are unclear about whether the burgers they’re buying are made from plants or beef; rather, it’s bolstered by growing environmental and ethical concerns, health reasons, or because meatless meat is a media darling.

Since the time of that writing, the pandemic sparked a surge in sales of plant-based meat, and illuminated the ethical and logistical shortcomings of our existing traditional meat processing infrastructure. And with companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat rapidly expanding their retail presence across the country, the innovation and mainstreaming of plant-based burgers and hot dogs could quickly outpace any legislation aiming to curb it.

That doesn’t mean existing entities won’t try to inhibit plant-based alternatives. It wasn’t all good labeling news in Europe today. While you can order veggie burgers, the EU Parliament also imposed stricter rules for dairy substitutes, saying even the terms such as “milk-like” cannot be used on dairy-free products.


Related

Want a Veggie ‘Disc’? EU Cracks Down on Plant-Based Meat Labeling

If you're in the E.U., time might be running out for you to order a veggie burger or vegan sausage link. The Guardian reported this week that the agriculture committee of the E.U. banned the use of meat labels (like "steak," "sausage," or "burger") to describe vegetarian products. The measures…

A Win for Veggie Burgers: Mississippi to Table Rigid Plant-based Meat Labeling Restrictions

In a win for free speech and veggie burgers everywhere, yesterday Mississippi officially revised its restrictive labeling rules around plant-based meat. The original regulations restricted companies from using traditional meat terms like "burger," "hot dog," and indeed "meat" on their packaging, even when preceded by terms like "vegan" or "plant-based,"…

Tofurky CEO Explains Lawsuit, Says Arkansas Meat Labeling Law is “Unconstitutional”

"Free speech" is an argument that has justified a myriad of historic cases. Now it's being used by plant-based meat producers to protect their right to call their products what they want. This week the American Civil Liberties Union, The Good Food Institute, Animal Legal Defense Fund, and ACLU of…

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Tagged:
  • EU
  • Europe
  • labeling
  • law
  • plant-based meat

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