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Dispute over names for veggie products: the EU Parliament is about the sausage

2020-10-23T07:00:58.053Z


Can seitan steaks be called steak? The EU Parliament decides on the designation of veggie products. Soy schnitzel or tofu burger may need to be renamed.


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Veggie refrigerated shelves in a Hamburg supermarket: expressions such as "à la", "type" or "imitation" should also be banned

Photo: Daniel Bockwoldt / dpa

Names such as "almond milk" or "tofu butter" have already been banned since a ruling by the European Court of Justice, now veggie sausage and seitan steaks could soon lose their names: the European Parliament decides on a regulation according to which plant-based foods no longer have animal-like names allowed to wear.

Descriptive expressions such as "à la", "type" or "imitation" should also be prohibited.

The initiative is part of a report on the EU's Common Agricultural Reform (CAP).

The MPs decide on the position of the EU Parliament, with which it then goes into negotiations with the EU Council and Commission.

It is not certain that the decision will make it into the final reform package for EU agricultural policy.

FDP and Green politicians see no risk of confusion

"We consider the entire debate to be completely superfluous," said FDP MEP Jan-Christoph Oetjen of the dpa news agency.

"We are convinced that the citizen can form his own picture."

After all, the consumer also knows that you cannot drink scouring milk.

He announced that the FDP would vote against the corresponding amendments.

Above all, agricultural associations had made massive advertising for the ban on meat names for substitute products.

The EU Agriculture Association (Copa-Cogeca) said that a precedent had been set with the approval of meat names for plant-based alternatives.

He spoke of the harm to farmers and consumers who would be confused by the unclear names.

Farmers' Association: Meat must remain meat

The German Farmers' Association (DBV) called for "honest" product names for substitute products.

At the beginning of October, DBV General Secretary Bernhard Krüsken described the fact that meat names were chosen for the plant-based alternatives as a "strange form of free-riding".

Krüsken: "Marketing that first discredits the original and then copies the name is unfair."

It is not about slowing down the veggie market, said the chairman of the European Parliament's agricultural committee, Norbert Lins.

The CDU politician, however, called for clarity on the names.

"We want to protect the designation of" pure "meat products, while the substitute product for meat preparations should carry the" veggie label "."

Green European politician Martin Häusling saw no risk of confusion for consumers on the refrigerated shelves.

He doesn't think veggie burgers and meat burgers can be confused.

Häusling fears that the EU Parliament runs the risk of ending up with a "second cucumber regulation".

The notorious - and now repealed - regulation on the permitted curvature of cucumbers is often cited by critics as an example of overregulation from Brussels.

In addition to the draft law, which provides for the prohibition of the meat designations for plant products, there is also a proposal with a compromise to be voted on.

After this, the soy schnitzel could still be called schnitzel, but it would have to be clearly marked with the comment "without meat".

In Germany, meat designations are currently possible for plant products.

According to the German Food Book Commission, the prerequisite for this is that the products are similar.

This can be given by various criteria such as intended use, consistency or mouthfeel.

Icon: The mirror

apr / dpa

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2020-10-23

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