EU lawmakers have finalised their plans to ban meat-like names for plant-based product labels.
In total, 31 words were prohibited after the trilogue meeting between the European Parliament, Council, and European Commission yesterday (5 March), a move that was criticised by plant-based food companies and advocacy groups as “unnecessary”.
The No Confusion Coalition, led by the European Vegetarian Union (EVU) and WePlanet, argued the ban on branding “hijacked” a legislation originally designed to “strengthen” farmers within food supply chains.
The restricted list includes animal-associated terms such as “chicken”, “beef” and “pork”, along with “steak” and “liver”. Cut-related descriptors such as “breast”, “thigh” and “drumstick” have also been prohibited.
However, descriptive product names such as “burger” “sausage” and “nuggets” remain permitted.
The restriction also extends to “novel” foods, including cellular agriculture products, which are not yet commercially available in the EU.
Rafael Pinto, senior policy manager at the EVU, said: "This decision goes against several EU priorities such as increased competitiveness, innovation, food security, affordability, simplification and higher income for farmers producing the products. It is incomprehensible that our policymakers are focussing on made up issues, when the world is at crisis.”
Negotiations on the ban stalled in December without consensus.
In October 2024, the European Court of Justice had ruled EU member states could not ban ‘meaty’ terms, after France re-attempted to ban domestic producers from using meat-related descriptors for plant-based products.
According to Rob de Schutter, head of communications at WePlanet, the latest agreement is “a plastic trophy in a culture war no one asked for”.
Non-profit group ProVeg International has also critcised the move.
Jasmijn de Boo, the global CEO of ProVeg International, said: “There is no evidence of widespread consumer confusion where products are clearly labelled as plant-based or vegan. Removing familiar terms does not improve transparency; it reduces clarity and increases friction at the point of purchase.”
Producers get three years to use up existing stock after the rules enter force.
The technical text will be finalised next Friday, followed by votes in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council and Parliament plenary.
The No Confusion Coalition said it will scrutinise the final text and continue pushing for clarifications or “corrections”, if needed.
Céline Imart, a French MEP who devised the amendment to ban the names, welcomed the agreement. She said the deal was a "major victory for farmers".
