Parliament

EU rejects use of animal names on plant foods: stop to 'veg burger', 'soy burger' and 'lentil sausage'

After the EU Parliament's vote, the use of animal names for 'plant-based' foods could be banned from 2028 in Europe: now the text will have to be negotiated with the governments of the 27 countries meeting in the Council

by Silvia Marzialetti

8 October 2025

Ue, verso il divieto dei termini "hamburger" e "bistecca" vegetali

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

The 2020 rejection

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

With 355 votes in favour and 247 against, the plenary approved an amendment sought by the People's Party that - as part of a proposal for a regulation on strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain - bans the use of animal names for products derived from vegetable proteins.

Once the process has been completed (it will have to be negotiated with the governments of the 27 countries meeting in the Council before coming into force), perhaps as early as 2028, plant-based manufacturers will no longer be able to label their plant-based foods as "veg burger", or "soybean burger", or "lentil sausage", market leaders for a newfound healthy, animal-friendly or sustainable trend.

This will also apply to the terms steak, escalopes, egg yolks, egg whites, which are explicitly mentioned in the black list contained in the regulation. Today, these names are permitted, as long as the packaging clearly indicates that they are foods of plant origin.

"A hamburger is a hamburger: we have to call a spade a spade' is the mantra of Céline Imart, French MEP (EPP), rapporteur of the measure. The MEP, who is also a cereal farmer in life, denounces 'the misleading aspect in the use of these names'.

For Herbert Dorfmann (Ppe-Svp), it is a matter of operating 'in a logic of consistency with European regulations, which already protect the terms derived from dairy products'. The vision faithfully reflects that of the French livestock sector (Interbev), which makes it a question of transparency and is also shared by other MEPs, such as the Italian Dario Nardella (S&D-Pd), who as a Florentine defends the identity of food: 'Pork steak or cauliflower steak do not seem to me to be the same thing, otherwise we would enter into a chaos of names.

Our trade associations, Coldiretti above all, are also at the forefront of the cause.

The victory in 2020 of meat sounding

The extremely divisive issue was already the subject of discussion in Strasbourg in 2020, with MEPs fronting against the so-called Veggie Burger Ban; but the European elections of 2024 changed the balance, granting more seats to right-wing MEPs, who claim an identity of views with the agricultural sector (although in plenary the EPP has granted freedom of vote).

In Italy, the ban on the use of meat sounding was introduced with the law against cultured meat in 2023, but never actually came into effect, in the absence of an implementing decree.

In 2024, moreover, an EU Court of Justice ruling in a case brought by the Californian plant-based pioneer Beyond Meat against the French decree prohibiting the use of traditional animal-related terms for plant-based protein products put a stop to the ban, stating that in the absence of ad hoc legal designations, a member state cannot prevent manufacturers from using terms traditionally associated with animal-based foods to market plant-based foods. The judges also rejected national measures that set (minimum) plant protein contents below which the term fake is permitted.

The ban called for by the Minister of Agriculture, Francesco Lollobrigida, had alarmed the plant-based industry in Italy, a fast-growing sector with a turnover of around €700 million.

A tightening of the ban on the use of names that are now familiar to consumers would in fact create a destabilising effect and cause an earthquake on a large scale, forcing a review of packaging, marketing, and the positioning of products on the shelves. Similar concern was also expressed by companies in Germany and Northern Europe, where the sector has been growing strongly for years.

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