Luxembourg MEPs annoyed by veggie burger debate

Do you still say almond milk? Soya milk? Even Thüringer instead of Luxringer or grilled sausage? This list of minor culinary rebellions could soon be supplemented by a few more terms – steak, escalope, sausage, Burger, hamburger, egg yolk and egg white. At least if the European Parliament has its way. On 8 October, it voted 355 to 247 in favour of the position paper on the regulation "Strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain".

The amendment tabled by French MEP Céline Imart is actually only a small part of a pact which, according to Martine Kemp (CSV/EPP), aims to "strengthen farmers" by "adapting contractual regulations and clarifying terms such as 'fair' and 'sustainable'".

However, the public debate on the document is completely overshadowed by Céline Imart's "Amendment 113": It starts off quite uncontroversially, by defining "meat, meat products and meat preparations" as "edible parts of the animals". However, point 3, which describes "meat products" in more detail, causes widespread contradiction: "These terms include, for example: steak, escalope, sausage, Burger, hamburger, egg yolk and egg white." The consequence: products that do not contain animal meat will no longer be allowed to bear these names in future: veggie burgers and tofu sausages will have to be sold in the EU under names such as veggie patty sandwich.