EU EU parliament to vote on banning the term 'veggie burger'

[Second Summer]

For those who have a rosy red idea of the EU, it's time for a reality check!

In a move that some MEPs suspect bears the fingerprints of the meat industry, the parliament’s agriculture committee this week approved a ban on producers of vegetarian food using nomenclature usually deployed to describe meat.

The protected designations would include steak, sausage, escalope, burger and hamburger, under a revised regulation that passed with 80% approval.

Source: ‘Veggie discs’ to replace veggie burgers in EU crackdown on food labels | European Union | The Guardian (4. April 2019)

Seriously, a product can't be called 'veggie burger'? Seriously? And yes, of course this is spearheaded by someone from France, a "socialist" no less! Of course, this comes on top of the EU court of justice's decision that plant milks can't be called 'milk'.

Brexit now!!!

 

[Amy SF]

I’m guessing that the companies won’t be allowed to use such language on their packaging, but they can’t stop people from referring to meat replacements as veggie burger or vegetarian sausage or whatever, either verbally on the street or online in blogs or reviews and so forth. So we’re going to be looking at a culture clash.

 

[Chryssie]

These "regulations" are so stupid! The meat and dairy industry is so afraid of the trend to plant based diets, they pull this nonsense!

 

[Blues]

For those who have a rosy red idea of the EU, it's time for a reality check!


Source: ‘Veggie discs’ to replace veggie burgers in EU crackdown on food labels | European Union | The Guardian (4. April 2019)

Seriously, a product can't be called 'veggie burger'? Seriously? And yes, of course this is spearheaded by someone from France, a "socialist" no less! Of course, this comes on top of the EU court of justice's decision that plant milks can't be called 'milk'.

Brexit now!!!

jess what next

 

[Second Summer]

Meanwhile, in France a 'végétarien' diet is very often considered to include fish. So in other words, a pescetarian diet.

So it's fine to water down and confuse core terms of the vegetarian vocabulary, but you'll be fined for advertising or selling soya milk, vegan cheese, veggie sausages or veggie burgers.

 

[shyvas]

In France the meat & dairy industry is huge ( really huge) and has enough money to fund meat ads. Lidl and the main supermarkets are
promoting French meat with huge coloured ads with photos of farmers together with their livestock. I have noticed this new trend since the last few months.
All the weekly supermarket ads contain pages and pages of meat products with slogans such as '' Buying French meat is a guarantee of quality'' etc.
Apparently meat sales are slightly on the decline whilst plant based products are on the rise. Whilst an EU technocrat has come up with the brilliant idea of the following, I don't think that it will make much of a difference neither to the meat or plant based market.

I actually dislike using terms such as 'steak' or 'escalopes', 'beef less & 'fishless' for veggie foods.

This is just another example why many people dislike the EU dictating what should or should not be done within their own country.

'Out

Veggie burgers, quorn sausages, soya escalopes and seitan steaks.

In ?
Veggie discs, quorn tubes, soya slices and seitan slabs.'

I say 'who cares'.

 

[Second Summer]

I wonder if meat and meat farming is part of the French sense of national identity and manliness, a bit similar to why idiots in my own homeland insist on the moronic barbarism known as 'whaling'.

 

[shyvas]

I wonder if meat and meat farming is part of the French sense of national identity and manliness, a bit similar to why idiots in my own homeland insist on the moronic barbarism known as 'whaling'.

That is certainly true to an extent. They also think that they have the best food and wine in the world.

 

[Moll Flanders]

'Out

Veggie burgers, quorn sausages, soya escalopes and seitan steaks.

In ?
Veggie discs, quorn tubes, soya slices and seitan slabs.'

I can't wait to eat my Quorn tubes later, mmm, yummy.

 

[shyvas]

I can't wait to eat my Quorn tubes later, mmm, yummy.

Same here as I'm having seitan slabs for lunch.

 

[shyvas]

I can't wait to eat my Quorn tubes later, mmm, yummy.

''Come over to my place for dinner and we'll have some slabs, tubes and discs''!

 

[Second Summer]

''Come over to my place for dinner and we'll have some slabs, tubes and discs''!

The future is here!

Here's an opinion on the issue by food writer Tony Naylor:

Steak is not a cut of meat. Not an animal. Not a synonym for beef. It derives from the Old Norse, steikja, meaning to roast on a spit. It is happenstance that steijk came to be associated with Vikings roasting beef (new Nordic cookery is all about roasting celeriac, instead), and, being pedantic, unless a restaurant spit-roasts its ribeyes, you could equally accuse it of misselling.

Similarly, not only have hamburgers never contained ham (the word is 19th-century US slang for a Hamburg-style minced beef steak), but, in trying to fence off “burger” for beef now, Europe is 50 years too late. In Britain, 1970s vegetarianism and, later, Linda McCartney’s ready-meals, popularised the concept that burgers and sausages could be made without beef or pork. Eating a falafel or beetroot burger is no stranger than eating one made out of chicken. No one in Europe is making a fuss about that.

More: Go on, EU, ban the ‘veggie burger’ – it will be a blessing for vegans | Tony Naylor (5. April 2019)

 

[Second Summer]

The Vegetarian Society is collecting feedback to send to the House of Lords on this proposed ban - from an email:

We have been approached by the House of Lords for comments on a proposed EU ban of meat-related terms when describing vegetarian and vegan foods. The proposed change means that veggie burgers and sausages could be renamed ‘discs and tubes’ in the future.

This is your chance to have your say. Whatever your opinion, we want to hear what you think. Your views will be taken to a House of Lords select committee and could shape what happens next.

Share your views in this short survey, but be quick as we need all responses by Wednesday 5 June.

Link: Share your views with the House of Lords

 

[shyvas]

The Vegetarian Society is collecting feedback to send to the House of Lords on this proposed ban - from an email:

Link: Share your views with the House of Lords

I also received the petition and have answered.

 

[Second Summer]

The House of Lords sub-cmmittee has held their roundtable discussion with representatives from farming, the food industry, the Vegan and the Vegetarian societies. Even the National Farmers' Union thought the proposal was going too far, and that terms like 'burger' and 'sausage' could be used along with a descriptor such as 'beetroot' or 'Quorn'. The Vegetarian Society representative said:

Out of the 1,225 people who completed a survey from the organisation, 70 per cent stated negative reviews of the proposal, citing that foods named after shapes would “lead to more confused shoppers”, it would be difficult for businesses to change their marketing, and could be counterproductive to the government’s environmental aims.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-...usage-burger-meat-free-products-a8965176.html

 

[manseh]

These "regulations" are so stupid! The meat and dairy industry is so afraid of the trend to plant based diets, they pull this nonsense!

I totally agree with you, these regulations are totally stupid, they are just afraid that if vegetarianism will grow, what will happen to the profits that meat industries make every year.

 

[Celibataire]

One more reason that I'm glad that I voted Leave, if it wasn't obvious already. But seriously, this is just a symptom of one of many things that is wrong with the EU. I presume that this law applies to every language that is recognised in the EU, but will it apply to those from other jurisdictions?

 

[Second Summer]

I presume that this law applies to every language that is recognised in the EU, but will it apply to those from other jurisdictions?

I assume it will apply to any product sold within the EU, regardless of the language on the packaging.

 

[Celibataire]

I assume it will apply to any product sold within the EU, regardless of the language on the packaging.

Maybe we could use the Russian for 'veggie burger' to get all the conspiracy nuts wound up.

 

[Second Summer]

The idea has spread to the USA, but as is tradition in that country, is being challenged in the courts:
What Gets To Be A 'Burger'? States Restrict Labels On Plant-Based Meat (NPR, includes transcript, 23. July 2019)