Lawmakers within the European Parliament on Wednesday voted to ban the labelling of vegetarian protein with phrases akin to “steak” or “meat.”
The lawmakers voted 532 to 78 to outline meat as “edible elements of animals” and to curtail using phrases like steak, escalope, sausage or burger for animal and never plant-based merchandise. The proposal will go to a parliamentary committee to be clarified, earlier than going again to the EU government arm after which to the bloc’s 27 member states for additional negotiations.
Céline Imart, a conservative German lawmaker and former farmer, mentioned utilizing meat-related phrases for vegetarian merchandise was deceptive.
“Now, we’re not speaking about banning vegetable or plant-based options, after all not. However I feel that phrases ought to converse for themselves and may imply what they imply,” she mentioned in a parliamentary debate on Tuesday.
Her colleague, Austrian MEP Anna Stürgkh from the liberal NEOS celebration, mentioned customers will not be simply fooled by meals labels on non-meat merchandise.
“A beef tomato doesn’t include any beef … Girls’ fingers will not be made from precise women’ fingers,” she mentioned. “Let’s belief customers and cease this sizzling canine populism.”
