A special committee of the UK House of Lords says there is “no evidence” that words such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’ used to describe vegan and vegetarian products create consumer confusion.
Furthermore, the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment Sub-Committee, says EU proposals to ban terms such as ‘veggie burger’ and ‘vegan steak’ would “reduce consumer clarity, be a barrier to growth for a burgeoning sector of the food industry, and ultimately make it more challenging for people to reduce the amount of meat in their diet at a time when Government should be seeking to encourage the opposite.”
The Committee heard “no evidence” that consumers had felt they were misled by meat-free products and less than 4% of people had ever unintentionally bought a vegetarian product instead of a meat free version. Further, witnesses were unanimous in the view that current naming conventions around vegetarian burgers and sausages in particular are clear and easy to understand.
The Committee therefore challenges the stated justification of the amendment to “prohibit certain commercial practices that are misleading for consumers” and says it contests that “without evidence of a problem, legislative action by the EU is unnecessary and would undermine EU policy objectives on climate change, the environment and public health”.
The Committee’s comments follow a UK stakeholder discussion on proposals announced in April by the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development a to restrict the use of descriptions like ‘sausage’, ‘burger’ and ‘steak to apply only to products containing meat and not to vegetarian or vegan alternatives.