The European Parliament’s decision to ban names such as veggie burger and plant-based sausage can hardly be seen as anything other than a victory for the meat lobby. Under the guise of “consumer protection,” a measure is being introduced that helps neither consumers nor the transition towards a more sustainable food system.

Consumers know perfectly well what they are buying when they put a veggie burger in their shopping basket. No one believes it contains meat. These names have long become part of our everyday language and actually help make plant-based alternatives more recognisable. A ban will only create confusion, bureaucracy, and additional costs for producers trying to offer more sustainable choices.

This decision exposes a deeper problem: the influence of entrenched economic interests on European policymaking. While the European Union officially promotes the Green Deal and the transition to a sustainable food system, the Parliament has now chosen a symbolic step that achieves the exact opposite. Instead of supporting innovation and consumer choice, it restricts producers of plant-based foods and shields the traditional meat industry from competition.

The EU should focus its energy on real challenges: reducing CO₂ emissions, supporting farmers who want to shift towards sustainable production, and keeping healthy food affordable for everyone. Addressing misleading labels is important but there is nothing misleading about a veggie burger.

What Europe needs now is a food policy that embraces the future instead of the status quo. The ban on terms like veggie burger is not an act of clarity, but a sign of stagnation. And that is precisely what Europe cannot afford in the fight against climate change and pollution.

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