European Parliament Can Block Attempt by Plant-based Products to Ride on Coattails of Meat

Ahead of the plenary vote on meat and dairy denominations in the EU Parliament this week, the IFA has written to Irish MEPs urging them to accept both amendments to protect our industry and its consumers.

These amendments will succeed in securing words such as ‘steak’, ‘sausage’, ‘escalope’, ‘burger’ or ‘hamburger’ for products that exclusively contain meat; and ‘milk’, ‘cheese’, ‘yoghurt’, ‘butter’ or ‘whey’ for products that exclusively contain dairy.

IFA President Tim Cullinan said, “We simply cannot have plant-based products deliberately disguised as something they are not. It’s deliberately misleading to our consumers and undermines our industry”.

“Private companies want to cash in on our reputation and use it to sell their products.  There is a powerful lobby in Europe to reject these amendments, so it’s crucial that our MEPs listen to farmers on the ground and adopt them,” he said.