BALL OF CONFUSION: ‘Veggie burgers’ are burgers, but ‘oat milk’ is not milk; say European lawmakers

Terms like ‘almond milk’ and ‘soy yogurt’ are still banned in Europe. The EU ruled in 2017 that plant-based products can't be marketed using terms such as milk, butter or cheese.

ASSOCIATED PRESS: European lawmakers said Friday that plant-based products that do not contain meat, including veggie burgers, soy steaks and vegan sausages, can continue to be sold as such in restaurants and shops across the European Union’s 27 countries.

Europe’s largest farmers’ association, Copa-Cogeca, had supported a ban, arguing that labelling vegetarian substitutes with designations bringing meat to mind was misleading for consumers.

On the opposite side of the debate, a group of 13 organizations including Greenpeace and WWF urged lawmakers to reject the proposed amendments, arguing that a ban would have not only exposed the EU “to ridicule,” but also damaged its environmental credibility.

They said promoting a shift toward more plant-based diet is in line with the EU Commission’s ambition to tackle global warming. Losing the ability to use the terms steak or sausage might make those plant-based products more obscure for consumers…

However, terms like ‘almond milk’ and ‘soy yogurt’ are already banned in Europe after the bloc’s top court ruled in 2017 that purely plant-based products can’t be marketed using terms such as milk, butter or cheese, which are reserved for animal products. SOURCE…

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