The EU Council’s decision to ban ‘meaty’ labels from plant-based products was announced on the same day it green-lit a bold climate target.
The EU is being urged to accelerate the shift to a more sustainable food system rather than engage in “symbolic naming debates” after lawmakers controversially banned meaty names for plant-based foods.
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Yesterday (5 March) the European Council and Parliament reached a provisional agreement aiming to give farmers a “stronger negotiating position” in the food supply chain.
Along with making written contracts between farmers and buyers a general requirement, the amendment to the common market organisation of agricultural products (CMO) also doubles down on protecting ‘meaty’ terms.
French MEP Céline Imart, who spearheaded the crackdown on plant-based labels, described the agreement as an “undeniable success for our farmers”.
“By enshrining the use of terms ‘steak’ and ‘liver’ for our farmers’ products and by committing to extend the list during the next negotiations, Parliament has taken a decisive step forward,” she added.
Imart argued that the crackdown will help preserve agricultural and food heritage, but did not address any concerns around the environment.
What the EU’s clampdown on ‘meaty’ labels means
The EU agreed to restrict vegetarian and vegan food from using the following labels: beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, ovine, goat, drumstick, tenderloin, sirloin, flank, loin, steak, ribs, shoulder, shank, chop, wing, breast, liver, thigh, brisket, ribeye, T-bone, rump and bacon.
While earlier proposals sought to prohibit widely used labels like burger and sausage, this has now been scrapped. It means you’ll still see products advertising ‘veggie burgers’ and ‘vegan sausages’ in the supermarket.
Restrictions have however been extended to cultivated meat (meat created from animal cells) despite them not being commercially available yet.
Co-legislators agreed on a three-year transition period, allowing producers to sell existing stock and adapt to the new rules.
However, the agreement has to proceed to formal adoption, followed by a final vote in the European Parliamentary plenary – meaning there is still a chance of last-minute changes.
Is plant-based meat confusing?
The central argument supporting the ban is that plant-based labels are misleading consumers.
However, multiple surveys have shown that Europeans support the continued use of everyday language for plant-based foods as it helps them identify what the product is trying to replicate.
“Introducing arbitrary changes to these long-established labelling practices is out of touch with people’s everyday use of language,” says the non-profit thinktank Good Food Institute.
“For the plant-based food sector – one of the most innovative and rapidly expanding branches of the European food industry – labelling restrictions would also introduce costs, such as rebranding labels, and could make it less appealing for international companies to enter the EU market.”
A blow to the EU’s climate goals
On the same day the EU Council announced the ban on meaty labels, it also gave the final green light to amend European climate law – introducing a binding intermediate climate target.
This means the EU is now trying to achieve a 90 per cent reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels.
“The climate transition requires making more sustainable food choices easier, not harder,” Jasmijn de Boo, global CEO of ProVeg, tells Euronews Green.
“Plant-based foods typically have a significantly lower environmental footprint than animal-based products, including lower greenhouse-gas emissions and land use, so policies should support their development and uptake.”
Animal-sourced foods make up between 81 and 86 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions from EU food production, despite only supplying an estimated 32 per cent of calories and 64 per cent of protein.
According to the carbon footprint calculator CO2 Everything, one 100g serving of beef is equivalent to 78.7 km of driving, releasing 15.5 kg CO2 equivalent.
“At a time when Europe is trying to meet ambitious climate targets, there are far more pressing challenges in the food system, including ensuring fair farmer livelihoods, maintaining resilient and sustainable food production and addressing reduced yields caused by climate impacts," de Boo adds.
The CEO argues that policymakers should be focusing on enabling innovation and ‘accelerating’ the shift towards a more sustainable food system, rather than engaging in what she describes as “symbolic naming debates”.
Silvia Mantilla of World Federation for Animals (WFA) echoes the sentiment, arguing that policies need to encourage plant-based diets – not “create barriers” to them.
“The FAO estimates that animal agriculture contributes 14.5 per cent of total anthropogenic emissions – greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity, which accelerate global warming and climate change,” Mantilla tells Euronews Green.
“Shifting to more plant-rich diets can mitigate food systems’ emissions, while also lessening animal suffering. Promoting and improving access to plant-based nutrition must be prioritised as part of the global effort to address the growing threat that climate change poses to our planet.”
‘Scandalous’ subsidies for beef and lamb
Last month, a report by non-profit Foodrise revealed that the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) pumped more subsidies into the production of high-emitting animal products than plant-based foods in 2020.
The analysis shows that animal-sourced food received around 77 per cent (€39 billion) of total CAP subsidies (€51 billion) spent that year.
It means that beef and lamb, which are one of the biggest culprits of climate damage in the food sector, were given around 580 times more in subsidies compared to low-carbon alternatives such as lentils and beans in 2020.
Dairy, which has also come under fire for its high carbon footprint, also received an estimated 554 times more CAP subsidies than nuts and seeds in the same year.
Martin Bowman of Foodrise says it is “scandalous” that billions of taxpayers’ money was pumped into propping up high-emission foods – calling on EU policymakers to support farmers in transitioning to plant-based agriculture.
A Commission spokesperson tells Euronews Green that CAP supports the EU agriculture sector to become a “model of sustainability” – confirming that the policy has undergone reforms that mean the vast majority of direct payments to farmers have been decoupled since 2003.
“Therefore, CAP subsidies are no longer linked to what and how much farmers produce,” the spokesperson adds.
Euronews Green has contacted Coreper I, a preparatory body of the EU Council, for comment.
