BRUSSELS - Reserve the name hamburger (but also salami, mortadella, sausage) only for meat-based products, banning its use for plant-based foods that have started crowding supermarket shelves for some years, or leave everything as it is 'and today.
This is the crossroads in front of the plenary of the European Parliament which in the coming days will vote on some specific amendments on this topic presented among the approximately one thousand put on the table in the context of the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Today the use of denominations such as ham and carpaccio is also allowed for plant-based products.
France has already banned this practice and similar EU-wide provisions already exist for dairy products, with the Court of Justice making it clear that names like "milk" and "butter" cannot be used for soy and tofu preparations. .
Among the various amendments to the vote on the 'vegetable' theme, three are those on which attention has been focused.
The first provides for the protection of denominations, for example prohibiting calling a hamburger exclusively a vegetable product.
The second involves maintaining the status quo (but indicating its natural 'vegetable' next to the name of the product).
While the third, supported by the EPP, plans to admit only the use of terms such as hamburger and sausage for vegetable products while it would reserve names such as ham, salami, etc. for meat products. It is
difficult to predict who will win.
League MEP Angelo Ciocca (Lega) today sounded the alarm claiming that "after the insects, the EU wants us to eat fake meat".
And that "we are facing yet another European attempt to damage a production sector, this time that of meat".
The pronouncement of the plenary on the matter is expected for Wednesday, while voting on the CAP regulations will go on until Thursday evening.
The result will constitute the position of the European Parliament in the negotiations with the Council and the Commission on the policy that over the next seven years will distribute over 340 billion euros to EU countries.