Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have today (8 October 2025) voted to restrict the labelling of plant-based products with meaty words such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’.

The plenary session saw a majority vote – 355 votes for, 247 against, and 30 abstentions – for the introduction of new labelling restrictions, which would see the meaty words reserved exclusively for products that contain animal meat.

If the ban goes ahead following upcoming talks with the Council of the European Union, both plant-based and cell-cultured products (meat grown in bioreactors using real animal cells) will be prohibited from using such words.

The vote comes amid a nearly decade-long debate around the use of meat- and and dairy-related terms for labelling and naming plant-based products, with meat and dairy industry representatives seeking to protect animal agriculture and claiming that such labelling is misleading to consumers.

This latest vote comes as part of proposed changes to the Common Agricultural Policy, led by MEP Céline Imart, which seek to protect the agriculture industry. It gathered a majority vote from the European Parliament Agriculture Committee last month, and talks with member states on the final legislative text are scheduled to begin next week (14 October).

"Consumers are not confused"

The move has drawn significant criticism from key figures within the European plant-based food and beverage industry.

Jasmijn de Boo, global CEO of industry awareness organisation ProVeg International, described the vote by the EU Parliament as “disappointing”.

She commented: “Plant-based foods are, and always will be, an essential part of EU agriculture, its economy and its growth…Europe is the biggest consumer market globally for plant-based meat alternatives, a market from which EU farmers will benefit hugely as it creates higher-value markets for pulses, soy, wheat, fungi, nuts, and vegetables – many of which are already grown in Europe.”

“Legumes also support better soil health and reduce fertiliser needs, lowering production costs. So there are both economic and environmental benefits to promoting, rather restricting, the sale of plant-based foods.”

Additionally, de Boo stated that consumers are not confused by “meaty” labelling of plant-based foods and that the EU already has “robust regulation in place to protect consumers from misleading labels”.

The debate presses on

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) emphasised this same sentiment toward the end of last year, before two similar decrees seeking to ban ‘meaty words’ on plant-based products were annulled in France in early 2025. The CJEU said EU law already provides sufficient regulations to protect consumers, stating that an EU member state will only be able to prohibit the use of terms traditionally linked to animal-derived products for plant-based foods if the country has established a specific legal name for such products.

This earlier decree was consulted on with the CJEU after France’s Council of State expressed concerns that it could cause ‘serious and immediate’ harm to manufacturers selling plant-based protein products in France.

At the time of the CJEU’s ruling, ProVeg’s de Boo said that EU member states legally defining descriptive meat words, such as sausage or burger, would only cause more confusion for consumers and the single market, as defining such terms depends on cultural and linguistic references.

Industry pushback

Protesting against the EU’s latest plans, over 200 organisations – comprising food manufacturers, brands and environmental NGOs – launched a campaign earlier this month titled ‘No Confusion,’ seeking to prevent the ban from being implemented and calling on MEPs to reject the proposal.

Rafael Pinto, senior policy manager at European Vegetarian Union, said: “These terms help consumers understand how to cook and enjoy sustainable alternatives. Banning them only creates confusion and slows down Europe’s transition to healthier, climate-friendly diets.”

Roberta Alessandrini, director of the Dietary Guidelines Initiative at the Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN International), also described the ban as an “unnecessary barrier,” commenting: “Fortified plant-based alternatives offer a tangible opportunity to help people reduce their consumption of processed meat, which is strongly linked to colorectal cancer and other major diseases. These products are also convenient and environmentally sustainable.”

“Concrete policy actions are needed to improve the health of both people and the planet, and this decision undermines those efforts.”

Edwin Bark, senior vice president at plant-based meat alternative brand Redefine Meat, said that the industry is coming together and "certainly won't face this lying down".

He added: "We’re extremely disappointed to hear this verdict. Ultimately, this ruling will stifle plant-based innovation, at a time when people are needing to reevaluate their diet and meat intake for the future of our planet."

"A name change also poses another hurdle in between plant-based meat and its target meat-eaters and flexitarian consumers, who may be less inclined or incentivised to try it. While consumer confusion is cited as a primary reason behind this decision, there doesn’t appear to be much supporting this – during my ten-year career in the plant-based sector I've yet to hear this complaint – so it’s baffling to me that this has escalated to this extent."