Plant-based products such as veggie burgers and sausages could be banned from using 'meaty' names in the UK under a new trade agreement with the EU, the Guardian has learned. The Labour government's sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal, signed earlier this year, ties the UK to some EU food labelling rules. The EU is set to vote this week on banning terms like 'burger' and 'sausage' for vegetarian products, following lobbying from the livestock industry.
The European Parliament voted for the ban last month, and this week the European Commission and member states will decide whether it becomes law. If passed, the UK government believes the law would automatically apply to British businesses, though a specific exemption could be negotiated if consistent with the agreement. The Food Standards Agency has reportedly told stakeholders that UK firms would be subject to the new rules if adopted.
The 'common understanding' underpinning the deal states that an exception could only be agreed if it does not lower standards compared to EU rules or negatively affect EU goods in the UK. Government sources said these clauses would be undermined if the ban took effect in the EU but not the UK. A government spokesperson said ministers had chosen to align in some areas where it made sense, but details remain subject to negotiations.
Critics have condemned the proposed ban. Joel Scott-Halkes of WePlanet called it a 'shadowy livestock lobby' push to protect profit margins. Supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, Burger King, and sausage producer Rügenwalder Mühle said in an open letter that banning familiar terms would hinder consumer decisions. The ban is supported by the French meat industry and has been discussed by the Italian government. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz remarked, 'A sausage is a sausage. Sausage is not vegan.'
French MEP Céline Imart, who drafted the amendment, argued that 'a steak, an escalope or a sausage are products from our livestock, not laboratory art nor plant products,' calling for transparency. Riley Jackson of cultivated meat firm Ivy Farm Technologies countered that consumers are savvy and that such red tape blocks solutions for struggling farmers, with 51% of UK farmers considering leaving the industry.
