In a significant vote on Wednesday, European Parliament members decided 355 to 247 to reserve product terms including "burger" and "sausage" solely for animal-derived foods.
Should this proposal is implemented, common plant-based items like veggie burgers, soy steak, and vegetable schnitzel may need to be renamed throughout EU countries.
Nevertheless, for the restriction to take effect, it needs to gain support from a majority of the EU's 27 countries, which is uncertain.
Proponents argue that consumers need transparent information and that meat terms should exclusively refer to products from livestock.
"A steak and sausages represent goods from animal farming: not from synthetic production nor plant products," stated France's MEP Céline Imart.
Critics, including environmental lawmakers, called the move unnecessary restriction.
"Plant-based burgers, seitan schnitzel and tofu sausage do not confuse consumers, only certain lawmakers," declared Austrian lawmaker Thomas Waitz.
The marks another attempt to control these terminology. The European parliament rejected a comparable ban in 2020.
France earlier introduced a domestic restriction on traditional names for plant-based foods in 2020, but the European court of justice ruled it invalid under EU law in this year.
Leading Germany's supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl object to the proposal, warning that altering familiar terms would confuse shoppers.
Advocacy organizations cite research indicating that the majority of shoppers comprehend product labels as long as items are properly identified as vegetarian.
"Almost 70% of consumers understand these names as long as items are clearly marked vegan or vegetarian," said Irina Popescu, a food policy officer at BEUC.
This legislative measure next requires consideration by EU member states, and it must secure majority approval to be enacted.
Given the mixed opinions within both lawmakers and the public, the outcome of this initiative remains unclear.
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