Thursday 4 April 2019

Fancy a veggie disc? Or maybe a vegan tube?

Vegetarian and vegan products could soon be banned from being described as burgers and sausages.

New plans put forward by the European Parliaments Agriculture Committee mean terms such as steak, sausage, escalope, burger and hamburger could be reserved exclusively for products containing animal meat.

When EU lawmakers in the Agriculture Committee voted on new EU rules, which included the proposal on how meat-alternatives should be labelled, 29 voted in favour and seven voted against.

The amendment in question reads: “Names that fall under Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 that are currently used for meat products and meat preparations shall be reserved exclusively for products containing meat."

Some environmentalists fear the name-changes could put people off adopting low carbon and sustainable alternatives to meat products,

The approved text now has to be scrutinised by the European Parliament as a whole.