Calling plant-based food veggie “burgers” or “sausages” may be banned in the UK under the new trade agreement with the EU, the Guardian understands.
The Labour government secured a new sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement with the EU earlier this year, which allows British businesses to sell products including some burgers and sausages in the EU for the first time since Brexit.
However, the deal ties the UK to some EU laws concerning food labelling, and the EU is set to vote this week on banning the use of “meaty” terms to describe vegetarian food after lobbying from the livestock industry.
The European parliament voted for this ban last month, and this week the European Commission as well as the governments of the 27 member states will decide whether it becomes law.
If it does, the UK government believes that the law will also apply to British businesses. It is understood that the amendment would automatically come into force in the UK were it passed in the EU, and then it would be subject to negotiations, when a specific exemption could be carved out if it was in line with the agreement.
The Food Standards Agency is understood to have told stakeholders that UK businesses would be subject to the new EU rules on plant-based labelling, if they were adopted.
The “common understanding” between the UK and EU, which underpins the deal, states on labelling: “An exception could only be agreed if: (i) it does not lead to lower standards as compared to EU rules, (ii) it does not negatively affect EU goods being placed on the market in the UK.” Government sources said these clauses would be undermined if a labelling ban took place in the EU and was not adopted in the UK.
A government spokesperson told the Guardian that ministers had made a choice to align in some areas where it made sense to do so in the national interest, but that details remained subject to negotiations.
‘A sausage is a sausage. Sausage is not vegan,’ the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has said. Photograph: Jenner Images/Getty Images
Joel Scott-Halkes, the head of campaigns at WePlanet, said: “The only confusion over plant-based food labelling in Europe is exactly which shadowy livestock lobby is behind it. There’s no genuine, citizen-driven demand to ban veggie burgers or sausages – just a meat industry push to protect its profit margins from a rising tide of dietary change.”
The proposed law change has been controversial in Europe. The supermarkets Aldi and Lidl, Burger King and the sausage producer Rügenwalder Mühle said in a joint open letter that banning “familiar terms” would make it “more difficult for consumers to make informed decisions”.
The labelling ban has been supported by the French meat industry, and a similar proposal has been discussed by the Italian government. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has said: “A sausage is a sausage. Sausage is not vegan.”
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The French centre-right MEP Céline Imart drafted the amendment to legislation intended to strengthen the position of farmers in the food supply chain.
Imart, who is also a cereals farmer in north-west France, said: “A steak, an escalope or a sausage are products from our livestock, not laboratory art nor plant products. There is a need for transparency and clarity for the consumer and recognition for the work of our farmers.”
Riley Jackson, the associate director of commercial at the cultivated meat company Ivy Farm Technologies, said: “Consumers today are savvy and capable of making informed choices. We’ve had black bean burgers and veggie sausages on shelves for decades – formats people know, love, and thus understand how to cook.
“At a time when our farming communities are under immense pressure – with 51% of UK farmers considering leaving the industry – we should be welcoming solutions that could increase revenue streams to farmers, not blocking them with red tape that has nothing to do with safety or consumer awareness. Let’s focus on raising all boats by building a strong food system, not building barriers.”
A government spokesperson said: “We are focused on delivering an SPS deal that could add up to £5.1bn a year to our economy by cutting costs and reducing red tape for British growers, producers and retailers. We will not comment on hypothetical scenarios or speculation.”
