EU Plant-Based Label Ban To Restrict Some Meaty Words But Not Others

The EU has agreed to restrict certain meaty words, but not others, as part of its plant-based label ban.

European lawmakers have agreed to ban the use of 31 different words for marketing and labeling plant-based foods, including “beef,” “bacon,” and “drumstick.” However, form-related words like “burger,” “nugget,” and “sausage” will still be allowed.

Negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers have reached a provisional agreement on the proposed plant-based labeling ban.

Plant-based producers will have a three-year transition period to clear existing stock and ensure all products comply with the new legislation. The updated legislation still needs to be formally adopted, which includes a final vote in the parliamentary plenary.

The banned words are: 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.

‘None of these benefits the consumer’

The European Council said the words can only be used for meat products, and that a ban will “enhance transparency” and “enable well-informed consumer choices.”

Alistair Currie, the public affairs and policy manager at The Vegan Society, said, “This decision will remove consumer choice, stifle innovation in the vegan food sector, increasing costs to businesses that will need to re-label and re-market products with new names and descriptions. None of these benefits the consumer.”

While veggie burgers, sausages, and nuggets have not yet been banned, the legislation was expanded during negotiations to include cultivated and cell-based meat, even though it is not yet available to EU shoppers at a retail level.

The EU, the climate crisis, and food system change

Photo shows someone taking a single packet of Beyond Meat's mince from a refrigerator of vegetarian burgers and sausages — Adobe Stock Debates over the labeling of plant-based foods are happening around the world

The EU announced that the plant-based labeling ban would go ahead on the same day it publicized a new and binding intermediate climate target. The EU has proposed a reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) of 90 percent (compared to 1990 levels) by 2040, as part of its broader goal of climate neutrality by 2050.

“The climate transition requires making more sustainable food choices easier, not harder,” Jasmijn de Boo, the CEO of ProVeg, told Euronews Green. “Plant-based foods typically have a significantly lower environmental footprint than animal-based products, including lower greenhouse-gas emissions and land use, so policies should support their development and uptake.”

In February, the non-profit Foodrise reported that the EU gave up to 77 percent of its annual CAP farming subsidies, worth roughly €39 billion, to high-emitting animal agriculture in 2020. A previous report found that the EU was making high-impact animal foods “artificially cheap.”

Animal agriculture is the leading cause of climate change, and meat, dairy, and eggs are linked to environmental destruction, climate change, an unstable food system, and human health issues. Animal farming is also resource-intensive and inefficient.