This week the EU Parliament voted in favor of an modification that may ban vegetarian and vegan merchandise from utilizing phrases together with “burger” and “sausage.” However the proposed ban goes additional than that, and would additionally stop cell-cultured meat — a.ok.a. lab-grown — from utilizing the identical phrases.
The regulation, handed by lawmakers 355 to 247, nonetheless must get previous the EU Fee and member state governments earlier than it turns into legislation. But when it does, it requires that phrases together with “steak,” “burger,” “sausage,” and even “egg white” be “reserved completely for merchandise containing meat.” That’s a non-exhaustive checklist, and the laws is meant to cowl all names at the moment used for meat merchandise.
However the invoice can be specific that the meaty phrases “shall exclude cell-cultured merchandise,” which may pose an issue for the burgeoning cultured meat business. “Lab-grown flesh disk” doesn’t have the identical ring as “hamburger,” and whereas the business continues to be years away from perfecting lab-grown steak, it could like to have the ability to name it that when it does.
The restriction was proposed with the goal of supporting European livestock farmers, and backed by an more and more proper wing parliament, however has been opposed by supermarkets, local weather teams, and even Burger King. An analogous measure was voted down in 2020, however the EU does have precedent right here, having banned using dairy phrases like “milk” or “cheese” for plant-based alternate options.
