Further to my original post, The European Parliament has indeed voted to ban the use of traditional meat names – including ‘steak’ and ‘burger’ – to describe plant-based alternatives. Members of the conservative EPP (European People’s Party) group supported the move, arguing that using meat and dairy terminology for vegan-friendly counterparts is “misleading for the consumer.” However, criticism has been raised to state that there is “no evidence to suggest that consumers are confused by commonly used food names.”
For the ban to take effect, it must still be approved by the European Commission (which is the EU’s executive branch) and the governments of all 27 member states. If the new restrictions are adopted, plant-based producers across Europe may have to rename hundreds of products and this will no doubt impact on marketing, exports, and consumer recognition across all of Europe.
Needless to say, it will be interesting to see how many of the 27 Members States do actually approve this ban. My hope is that common sense will win at the end of it all, and in an ideal world it may even help producers of all food products to be clearer with their labelling practises to ensure that they are transparent with consumers about what their product does actually contain. As with all political proposals though, these changes are still likely to be quite a long distance away before they take effect, in which time I hope some alternatives can be agreed that promote the interests of both sides of this argument.
Taylor Talks Vegan 