Food firms urge Europe not to ban calling non-meat products sausages'

"We've been championing vegetarian and plant-based food since 1977 and we've seen so much innovation and the inevitable pushback that follows. Here's the thing: consumers are smart! They don't need labels policing words like burger' or sausage' to know what they're buying. Clear ingredient lists and a bit of common sense are enough. Banning familiar terms just makes life harder for shoppers and smaller producers, without helping anyone."

"A ban would mean, for example, bean burgers sold in Europe having to be relabelled as patties or discs, while the Welsh breakfast staple Glamorgan sausages made of cheese and leeks would probably become Glamorgan tubes. The letter, organised by the Vegetarian Society and sent to representatives of the European Commission, the European parliament and the Council of the European Union,"

More than a dozen food companies urged the European Commission not to ban words such as 'sausage' and 'burger' for non-meat products, arguing a ban would confuse consumers and hurt producers. The Vegetarian Society organised a joint letter to the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. A ban could force bean burgers to be relabelled as patties or discs and rename Glamorgan sausages as Glamorgan tubes. Paul Garner of Suma Wholefoods emphasized that consumers read ingredient lists and that policing terms is unnecessary. Aldi, Lidl and Quorn oppose revisiting labelling that consumers have already understood.

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