EXCLUSIVE: EU farm ministers revive fight over ‘veggie steak’ bans

A coalition of EU states – including food heavyweights like France, Spain and Italy – will next week renew their push to have the European Commission ban the use of traditional meat names for plant-based substitute products.

A group of at least twelve countries is preparing to reignite the row over plant-based food labelling at next week’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Luxembourg.

“These plant-based foods are very often labelled with the names belonging to meat, eggs, honey, fish and products made from them,” according to a note seen by Euractiv. The initiative is led by Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia, with support from France, Ireland, Malta, Spain, Portugal, Romania and Luxembourg.

The names of dairy products such as “milk” or “cheese” have been protected by EU law since 1987, but the same does not apply to meat products.

“It is therefore essential that foods which imitate, mimic or substitute foods of animal origin do not mislead the consumer by their labelling as to their true nature,” adds the note, echoing a longstanding demand by the livestock sector.

Last week, the organisations Farm Europe and Eat Europe sent a letter to commissioners Olivér Várhelyi and Christophe Hansen as part of their campaign Words Matter.

The coalition of member states will next week call on the Commission to table an initiative within the framework of the Common Markets Organisation (CMO) regulation reform – which is due to come as part of the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy proposal in mid-July.

But some in the European Parliament want to see changes come earlier. French MEP Céline Imart (EPP) has slipped an amendment to legally define “meat products” into a  Commission proposal to reopen the CMO to strengthen farmers’ bargaining power.

"Dairy products are already protected under the same regulation. Why not meat? Because let's be clear: this vagueness around designations is no accident," Imart told Euractiv, accusing "certain NGOs" of seeking to impose "an ideological vision of food".

Imart said that meat-related terms are all too often "usurped" and that stricter rules are needed ahead of the "imminent arrival of synthetic meats".

"After the various twists and turns we have seen in France, this amendment is a glimmer of hope for reassuring farmers and consumers" she added.

National moves 

The note to be presented at the Council warns that, without EU action, member states may go their own way on meat name rules – potentially leading to "regulatory fragmentation" across the bloc.

Czechia, which spearheaded the initiative, recently considered tightening its labelling legislation to restrict the use of names such as “sausage” or “meatball”. However, Agriculture Minister Marek Výborný ultimately decided to drop the idea.

“I trust manufacturers to label their products honestly (...) I have no ambition to lecture or educate people,” he said in a social media post.

France notably attempted to impose national restrictions in 2020 and 2022 – without success. The government banned several terms traditionally used for meat on plant-based alternatives, but the EU’s top court rebuked it for failing to define legal names for such products.

While a French court annulled the restrictions last January, NGOs fear that Paris may give the “veggie steak” ban another try.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Spain has been a pioneer in labelling restrictions. Already in 2014, Madrid passed a law defining over 80 meat products, effectively banning the use of these terms for plant-based products.

Sources from the Spanish ministry told Euractiv that the government was assessing whether it was necessary to modernise the legislation following the rulings on France.

 

(adm, aw)