Update on the Labelling of Vegan and Vegetarian Foods

For years, the EU has been debating which designations may be used to label vegan and vegetarian meat substitute products. The central issue is whether terms such as “burger” or “schnitzel” may also be used for vegetarian and vegan alternatives. A compromise has now been reached in the ongoing EU legislative process.

Key points at a glance

The legal and political debate over how vegan and vegetarian substitute products may be labelled is driven by significant economic interests: Whoever is allowed to label a product as a “veggie burger” or “tofu sausage” benefits from the brand recognition of established terms, has lower marketing costs, and can rely on consumers’ existing understanding of such products. This allows them to market their product as an increasingly attractive alternative to their animal-based counterparts. Conversely, proponents of banning such designations point to the need to protect the agricultural sector, which has built the good reputation of animal-derived foods over generations and whose reputation is now being exploited for plant-based products.

In 2020, a majority in the European Parliament voted against a general prohibition on the labelling of plant-based alternative products with meat-related designations. This prompted some member states to take unilateral action at the national level. In its judgment of October 4, 2024 (C-438/23), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) overturned the French prohibition on using designations traditionally used for meat products to label plant-based protein substitutes. The permissibility of such designations has so far been governed by the general rules on food labelling, in particular the prohibition of misleading food information under Article 7(1) of Regulation (EU) No. 1169/2011 (“FIC”).

In June 2025, a group of EU member states introduced a Council initiative aimed at reserving terms such as “fillet,” “cutlet,” and “shank” exclusively for animal derived products and prohibiting their use for plant-based alternatives, in line with the existing rules for milk and dairy products. In October 2025, the European Parliament voted by a large majority in favor of the draft legislation. The Parliament expanded the draft further by adding a non-exhaustive list of examples of designations that should be prohibited for plant-based products.

The proposal was subsequently scaled back during the legislative process. On March 5, 2026, the European Council and the European Parliament reached a compromise during the so-called trilogue. On June 16, 2026, as part of the reform of the Common Market Organization for agricultural products, the European Parliament adopted a Regulation defining the term “meat” as “the edible parts of animals” and introducing an extensive list of protected meat designations. The protected designations include beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, sheep and goat meat, as well as shank, fillet, hip, flap, loin, steak, ribs, shoulder, knuckle, chop, wing, breast, liver, thigh, brisket, rib roast, T-bone steak, roast beef and bacon. The list of protected designations reflects the compromise reached between the European Council and the European Parliament. These designations will henceforth be reserved exclusively for products of animal origin and may not be used for products that do not contain meat, including cultivated or cell-based products. The objective is to enhance transparency and to prevent consumers from being misled. For manufacturers of plant-based, fermented or cell-based alternatives, this means that product names and marketing claims will need to be reviewed and, where necessary, adapted once the Council has approved the agreement and the new rules have entered into force.