The EU parliament has voted to ban the words “burger,” “sausage,” “steak,” and others from being used on the packaging of plant-based products. Instead it has been proposed that companies should use “patty” as an alternative to “burger” with the primary motivation being to avoid confusing consumers. When put up against the currently turbulent and unstable political climate, this parliamentary vote over what should be labelled a burger seems absurd to say the least.
Despite how frivolous this potential ban might sound, a majority vote of 355-247 in favour of the ban does signal a potential shift in the way plant-based foods are being perceived. Though the possibility of this ban being enacted as law is fairly low, with the backing of both the European Commission and all governments of the 27 member countries necessary, this crackdown on supposedly “confusing” marketing may not be so straightforward. Is it really in the interests of the consumer?
Debates on national TV about plant-based foods and what they should be called have been had for years, predominantly spearheaded by English TV host Piers Morgan. In 2020 on British breakfast show Good Morning Britain, Morgan argued against the use of the word “burger” to describe the plant-based alternative, claiming it is “false marketing”. After all, what is a burger? Further, Piers Morgan urged disagreeing co-host Susanna Reid to “look it up in the dictionary, a burger is a meat product and so is a sausage. Why do vegans want to use our language?”
A little bit of digging in the Oxford English Dictionary will tell you that “burger” is the shortened term for “hamburger”. OED further states that “burger” is “usually denoting a roll, sandwich, etc., containing the foodstuff specified in the first element.” Therefore, burger needs to be preceded by, for example, ham or beef, in order to specify what type of burger is being referred to. With this logic, burger is a neutral term that is defined by what precedes it, meaning that “veggie burger” or “bean burger” is a perfectly acceptable term to call the plant-based alternative. Burger is a universally known word, said in very similar ways all over the world. If anything, to change the marketing to erase “burger” and solely use “patty” would lead to more confusion, which is exactly what the EU parliament claims to want to avoid.
“Why do vegans want to use our language” is an alarming question uttered by Piers Morgan, one that is likely to align with many members of the EU parliaments’ own beliefs. Celine Imart, French farmer and MEP who led the initiative to ban “meat related” names, said “let’s call a spade a spade […] calling it ‘meat’ is misleading for the customer”.
As a vegetarian, I have never been confused as to whether a plant-based product contains meat or not. Plant-based products’ packaging could not be clearer. Companies’ veggie product packaging is often covered with green, plant iconography, and the respective labels are plastered on the front. Whether that be the words “plant-based” in front of “burger,” or by making it explicitly clear in their brand name, for example the British brand, The Meatless Farm, it couldn’t be clearer what denotes a plant-based food.
A lot of the discourse around this ban has brought up valuable questions which highlight the underlying hypocrisies and double standards. Many people have argued that if “burger” is to be banned, other labels like “peanut butter” and “hot dog” should be too, following the EU Parliament’s reasoning.
As with all languages, words change and evolve over time, developing new meanings in their own cultural contexts. The word “sausage” is defined by OED as containing meat, but like with “burger,” the terms in which we now refer to these specific foods is defined by what they are prefaced with. After all, there are many types of burger, sausage, and escalopes that contain meat, so why can’t one made of soya be a part of that as long as it’s labelled correctly?
According to the Good Food Institute of Europe, Germany holds the largest market for plant-based products in the EU, and sausages are notoriously a pillar of German cuisine. Rügenwalder Mühle is a German meat manufacturer widely known for their production of meat products, and they have pushed back against this parliamentary proposal. The manufacturer is now leading in the market for meat-alternatives and in 2020, they saw a 50 percent increase in meat-free product sales. There doesn’t seem to have been any consumer confusion there, and Rügenwalder Mühle include the German word for sausage (wurst) on their soya-based products’ packaging.
Although the majority vote is for the ban, multiple politicians have been outspoken on their opposing views. Anna Cavazzinni of Germany’s Green Party has said: “While the world is burning, the EPP has nothing better to do this week than to involve us all in a debate about sausages and schnitzel”. A clip of Swedish MEP Anna Strolenberg’s speech at the European Parliament has also gained traction for her criticisms of the ban. Strolenberg raised an interesting point–what if the burger is 50/50 animal protein and plant protein? What will it be called then? These questions reveal how undeveloped the debate on this ban is. The future of plant-based products wasn’t considered or given much care, even though this ban would radically reshape the marketing of plant-based products.
“It’s because the Meat Lobby is trying to weaken its innovative food competitors, it’s trying to weaken farmers, also livestock farmers transitioning to more plant-based products,” said Strolenberg. The ban was supposedly proposed to help livestock farmers who have felt that “meat” related terms on labels are a threat to the meat industry. Strolenberg, however, offers that if the EU parliament really wanted to help farmers, they should “give them stronger contracts” and “help them innovate […] to adapt to the climate crisis that is devastating their harvests” instead.
When looking at the conditions needed for this ban to come into fruition, it doesn’t seem likely. However, the majority vote to ban reveals more about the rise of Conservatism and “traditional values,” ones which often push meat-eating and scapegoat green initiatives like plant-based foods, labelling them “a threat to farmers”.
So, is the ban really in favour of consumer protection, or instead in favour of the Meat Lobby who are set out to combat the steady increase in plant-based product sales? Either way, I think it’s safe to say that plant-based products, “burger” or not, are here to stay.
