STOP THE
VEGGIE BURGER BAN!

STIFLING POSITIVE CHANGE: STOP THE VEGGIE BURGER BAN

On 1 April 2019, as a part of a vote on the EU’s new Common Agricultural Policy, the AGRI Committee of the European Parliament voted in favour of several proposals which would further restrict the freedom of the plant-based food industry to market its products.

The accepted proposals, if passed into law, would prohibit companies from using words such as ‘veggie burger’ and ‘vegan sausage’ on food labels and packaging, and tighten existing restrictions on the naming of plant-based dairy equivalents, even banning the phrase ‘plant-based milk alternative’.

This is an unjustified restriction of commercial speech, which is not in the interest of consumers or producers. The use of denominations that are typically used to refer to animal-based foods (e.g. ‘burger’, ‘sausage’, ‘milk’) in plant-based products serves an important function in communicating characteristics that consumers are looking for when buying plant-based products. The proposed restrictions would unnecessarily impede the positive social and environmental changes created by the plant-based market, one of the fastest-growing and most innovative sectors in the food industry today.

Additionally, the ban serves no clear purpose. There is no evidence whatsoever that consumers or the food industry want or need this restriction, or that consumers are confused or misled by vegetarian products (which are usually clearly labelled). Vegetarian and vegan products do not aim to imitate animal products with the intention of misleading consumers. Instead, these products are a response to the increasing consumer demand for innovative alternatives to animal products. Consumers buy plant-based products precisely because they know these products offer similar taste experiences and functionalities to their animal-based counterparts but without containing any animal material. We urgently call upon the newly elected European Parliament to reject these proposals when considering the new Common Agricultural Policy and to put an end to other unnecessary policies restricting the denomination of plant-based products.