Allow It: The Ex-Beatle Urges EU to Scrap Ban on Plant-Based ‘Steaks’.

The famous musician has added his voice for the European Commission to reject efforts to prohibit the use of descriptors such as “banger” and “burger” for plant-based products.

A Contentious Ruling

The music icon has joined forces with eight UK parliamentarians who have written to the European Commission, contending that a ban approved in October by the European parliament would address a nonexistent problem while impeding progress on climate goals.

The new rules would mean the demise for the use of names such as cutlet, patty, banger or fillet when referring to products based on meat-free ingredients. Proposed replacements include the less appetising “rounds” or “cylinders”.

“To require that burgers and sausages are ‘plant-based’ should be enough for sensible people to grasp what they are eating. This also promotes attitudes which are essential to our well-being and that of the Earth,” commented the musician.

A Longstanding Advocate

McCartney is one of the world’s most visible advocates of a vegetarian diet. Alongside his wife Linda established the Linda McCartney plant-based foods brand in 1991, and he and their daughters Stella and Mary launched the global “Vegan Monday” initiative to persuade people to reduce meat consumption.

These meat-free alternatives have been part of a global movement of increased interest in products to replace meat, although investment has diminished since a boom during the coronavirus pandemic.

Farming Opposition

But as popularity has increased of vegan foods has come a strong reaction, especially from the lobbying farming and meat distribution industries, which are concerned about the potential effects of lower demand on jobs.

The European Parliament decided 355–247 to outlaw “meat-related” names from being used on plant-based products. As stated by media, one French MEP, a member of the centre-right European People’s party, told the parliament: “I believe that these traditional terms are products from our agricultural sector. Full stop. No laboratory substitutes, no vegetarian versions.”

Wider Consequences

The letter endorsed by the McCartney family and the UK politicians suggested that the ban might compel the UK into changes as well, because the economic and legal frameworks are still so interconnected notwithstanding the UK’s exit from the EU.

The EU has a long-established “geographical indication” system for preventing businesses from trading off the titles of products from particular regions, such as champagne, Greek olives or Parma ham. But the bid to limit the use of generic terms is more controversial.

The Problem of Definitions

Several of the words that would be forbidden have fluid interpretations. For instance, lexicons define a sausage firstly in relation to meat but secondly as “an object shaped 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 politicians backing the letter are former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex- environmental party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.