The long‑debated EU ban on using food‑meat names for plant‑based products may actually be on its way. According to an insider source reported by “Spiegel”, the European Parliament, the Commission, and the Council of the Member States are expected to reach an agreement in the Thursday Trilog negotiations on prohibiting certain product labels throughout the EU.
The focus will be on terms with a direct animal reference-names such as “Beef” “Pork” “Chicken” “Bacon” and “T‑Bone”. The Council and the Commission are pushing for a narrower restriction, whereas the Parliament is still negotiating whether the ban should also cover other product names like “sausage” and “burger”. These negotiation details were gleaned from documents described in “Spiegel”‘s coverage.
German CDU MEP Peter Liese has again voiced opposition to the naming ban. “I sincerely hope the German government succeeds in opposing this ban” Liese told “Spiegel”. “We currently face far more pressing foreign and economic policy challenges than a veggie‑burger ban”.
The naming ban is part of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) package, a regulatory framework that oversees and manages agricultural markets, ensuring uniform market rules for agricultural products across all Member States.
Anna Strolenberg, a Dutch MEP from Volt, noted that the original aim of the CMO regulation was to enable contracts between farms and buyers, such as dairies. She warned that the plan could now be diluted by national exemptions for various products and dairy cooperatives. “Instead of strengthening farmers’ incomes, we are debating a veggie‑burger ban” she told “Spiegel”, describing the outcome as “absurd”.