Europe-wide criticism of imminent EU veggie burger ban

14-May-2019 - Germany

A motion by the EU Parliament to ban names such as "burger" and "sausage" for vegan and vegetarian products has been criticised throughout Europe. The nutrition organization ProVeg goes on the offensive and starts a campaign.

In April 2019, during the negotiations on the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU Parliament's Agriculture Committee voted in favour of the proposal on the grounds that designations such as "burger" and "sausage" for vegan and vegetarian products would mislead consumers. If the proposal were to be accepted and a corresponding law passed, veggie burgers would henceforth have to be referred to as "disc", "roast piece" or other incomprehensible terms.

ProVeg calls for consumer-friendly food labelling

In order to counteract the ban, ProVeg has launched a campaign. In a petition, the food organisation calls on the future EU Parliament to reject the proposal as unnecessary and irrational.

Felix Domke, Head of Policy at ProVeg, explains: "There are no empirical studies or other evidence to suggest that consumers are confused or deceived by the current names of vegan and vegetarian products. To claim that consumers do not understand the meaning of the term 'veggie burger' and similar terms is nonsense. Terms such as "burger", "sausage" and "milk" for herbal products convey to consumers the characteristics of the products they are looking for at the time of purchase, for example in terms of use, taste and texture. This has been proven for years, why should it be made more difficult?"

The veggie burger ban hinders innovation

"The proposed ban would restrict producers. In addition, it would have an impact on the positive social and environmental changes that the vegetable food market brings with it," says Domke. The vegan food market is one of the fastest growing and most innovative sectors of the food industry today. The petition will be submitted to the EU Parliament before the final vote.

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1161019/europe-wide-criticism-of-imminent-eu-veggie-burger-ban.html