Paul McCartney has joined calls for the European Commission to dismiss efforts to prohibit the use of descriptors such as “banger” and “burger” for vegetarian foods.
A Divisive Decision
Sir Paul has joined forces with eight members of parliament who have written to the European Commission, arguing that a ban approved in October by the EU parliament would tackle a non-issue while hindering progress on environmental targets.
The new rules would signal the termination for the use of names such as cutlet, patty, banger or fillet when describing products based on vegetables or plant-based proteins. Recommended names include the less appealing “rounds” or “tubes”.
“To require that burgers and sausages are ‘vegan’ should be adequate for the average person to comprehend what they are eating. This also promotes attitudes which are crucial to our well-being and that of the planet,” McCartney said.
A Vocal Supporter
Sir Paul is one of the world’s most high-profile champions of a meat-free lifestyle. He and his late wife established the Linda McCartney plant-based foods brand in 1991, and he and their daughters Stella and Mary initiated the global “Monday Without Meat” initiative to encourage people to cut down on animal products.
These meat-free alternatives have been integral to a global shift of growing popularity in products to substitute for meat, even if financial backing has diminished since a bubble during the coronavirus pandemic.
Farming Opposition
Yet with the growth of plant-based products has come a backlash, notably from the lobbying agricultural and meat processing industries, which are worried about the consequences of falling sales on employment.
The European parliament decided 355–247 to outlaw “meat-related” names from being used on plant-based products. According to reports, Céline Imart, a member of the centre-right European People’s party, informed the parliament: “I believe that such names are products from our agricultural sector. Full stop. No lab-grown imitations, no vegan options.”
Further Repercussions
The letter signed by the McCartney family and the British MPs argued that the ban might compel the UK into changes as well, because the economic and legal frameworks are still so intertwined in spite of the UK’s exit from the EU.
The EU has a longstanding “protected designation of origin” system for blocking businesses from trading off the labels of products from certain locales, such as sparkling wine from France, Kalamata olives or Parma ham. But the bid to limit the use of generic terms is more controversial.
The Issue with Meanings
Many of the terms that would be banned have fluid interpretations. For example, dictionaries define a sausage primarily in relation to meat but additionally as “an object formed like a sausage”. Even more problematically, the primary definition of “burger” is often given as a “flat round mass of chopped animal or plant matter”.
The eight parliamentary supporters comprise ex- Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex- environmental party leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.
