This week, the European Parliament voted in favor of an amendment that would ban vegetarian and vegan products from using terms such as “burger” and “sausage.” But the proposed ban goes further and would also prevent cell-cultured meat – that is, grown in a lab – from using the same terms.
The regulation, adopted by 355 votes to 247, must still go before the European Commission and member state governments before becoming law. But if that’s the case, it requires terms like “steak,” “burger,” “sausage” and even “egg white” to be “reserved exclusively for products containing meat.” This is a non-exhaustive list and the legislation aims to cover all names currently used for meat products.
But the bill also explicitly states that terms relating to meat “shall exclude cell-cultured products,” which could pose a problem for the burgeoning cultured meat industry. “Lab-grown disc of flesh” doesn’t have the same ring to it as “hamburger,” and while the industry is still a long way from perfecting lab-grown steak, it would like to be able to call it that once it does.
The restriction was proposed in a bid to support European livestock farmers and backed by an increasingly right-wing parliament, but it faced opposition from supermarkets, climate groups and even Burger King. A similar measure was rejected in 2020, but the EU has precedent on the matter, banning the use of dairy terms like “milk” or “cheese” for plant-based alternatives.
