Overview

• MEPs voted 355–247 to add a naming ban to a broader regulation aimed at strengthening farmers’ negotiating power.
• The amendment would reserve names such as burger, sausage, steak and escalope for products that contain meat, with a meat-only list that also includes hamburger, egg yolk and egg white.
• The text is not law and must be agreed in talks with the 27 member states and the European Commission before taking effect.
• Leading German retailers including Aldi and Lidl, as well as consumer and environmental groups, oppose the change, and BEUC cites data showing about 70% of shoppers understand terms when products are clearly labelled vegan or vegetarian.
• Sponsor Céline Imart and livestock groups call the vote a win for farmers, though uncertainty remains given a similar EU move failed in 2020 and the EU court overturned France’s national ban in 2024.