Plant-based products

27 June 2024

In an apparent attempt to undermine the growing success of plant-based alternatives to animal products, an amendment was adopted by the Agriculture Committee (AGRI) of the 8th parliamentary term on 1 April 2019 in the context of the proposal for a regulation of the common agricultural policy (CAP) establishing a common organisation of the markets in agricultural products (2018/0218 COD). This amendment aims to prohibit the use, for products of plant origin, of names that have been typically associated with meat products and preparations, such as “steak”, “sausage” and “hamburger”.

SAFE, together with other NGOs reacted in several open letters to MEPs to ensure that consumers are not prevented from making informed choices when buying food.

Find publications on this topic here:

• NGO Joint letter calling on the EC & Council of the EU to reject AM171 during the CAP reform, 2021
• NGO Joint letter calling on MEPs to reject AM165&171 during the CAP vote, 2020
• Joint letter calling on MEPs to support the alignment of the CMO with the F2F Strategy, 2020
• NGO Joint letter on the French Act on the transparency of information on agricultural and food products, 2020
• NGO Briefing on meat denomination, 2019
• Joint letter about the proposal to ban the use of terms such as ‘veggie burger’ in the EU, 2019