More than a dozen food companies have urged the European Commission not to ban the use of words such as “sausage” and “burger” for non-meat products.
Companies including Linda McCarney Foods, Quorn and THIS have signed a joint letter calling on commissioners to “let common sense prevail” ahead of a debate on the proposed ban, which they say would cause “unnecessary confusion” for customers “without helping anyone”.
A ban would mean, for example, bean burgers sold in Europe having to be relabelled as “patties” or “discs”, while the Welsh breakfast staple Glamorgan sausages – made of cheese and leeks – would probably become Glamorgan “tubes”.
The letter, organised by the Vegetarian Society and sent to representatives of the European Commission, the European parliament and the Council of the European Union, follows a similar plea from Paul McCarney and eight MPs in December, in which the musician said labelling vegetarian sausages as such “should be enough for sensible people to understand what they are eating”.
The supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, which are headquartered in Germany, the biggest market for plant-based products in Europe, also oppose the proposed ban.
Paul Garner, the commerce area leader at Suma Wholefoods, one of the longerstanding producers of plant-based foods, said: “We’ve been championing vegetarian and plant-based food since 1977 and we’ve seen so much innovation – and the inevitable pushback that follows.
“Here’s the thing: consumers are smart! They don’t need labels policing words like ‘burger’ or ‘sausage’ to know what they’re buying. Clear ingredient lists and a bit of common sense are enough. Banning familiar terms just makes life harder for shoppers and smaller producers, without helping anyone.”
The chief executive of Quorn Foods, David Flochel, said it was “regrettable that energy continues to be spent revisiting an issue that consumers settled long ago”.
He said: “In 40 years, not once has a customer told us they bought a Quorn product believing it to be meat. While we fully support rules that prevent misleading claims, we are concerned that these new restrictions risk creating unnecessary confusion and regulatory burden for both manufacturers and consumers.
“We call on the European Commission, parliament and council to let common sense prevail and to focus on policies that support innovation and accelerate the shift toward environmentally sustainable diets.”
Jenny Canham, the public affairs lead of the Vegetarian Society, said: “As this ongoing debate draws to a close, businesses are the latest group to send a clear message that banning familiar veggie terms is completely unnecessary. EU decision-makers must recognise the global risks of pursuing a terminology ban to address a problem that simply does not exist. What we truly need is clear labelling, not unnecessary language barriers.”
The measures, initially put forward by the French centre-right MEP Céline Imart, were agreed in a vote in the EU parliament last year. Widely considered a victory for the meat industry in a backlash against the popularity of meat-free foods, the initial vote by MEPs in October passed with 355 in favour to 247 against.
However, the proposals need to be approved by a majority of the EU’s 27 member states to become law, in a vote that takes place on 5 March.
