The European Parliament has voted to ban a range of meat-related terms from use on plant-based and cultivated food products, concluding a legislative process that had been deadlocked since late 2025.
The plenary vote passed 560 in favour, 75 against, and 25 abstentions. The regulation, part of a package of measures under the Common Market Organisation designed to strengthen farmers’ position in the food supply chain, formally defines meat as “edible parts of animals” and establishes a list of terms reserved exclusively for animal-derived products. Cell-based products are also explicitly excluded from using the designation “meat.”
What’s now restricted
The protected list covers: beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, ovine, goat, drumstick, tenderloin, sirloin, flank, loin, steak, ribs, shoulder, shank, chop, wing, breast, liver, thigh, brisket, ribeye, T-bone, rump, and bacon. Terms such as “burger,” “nuggets,” and “sausage” are not included and remain available to plant-based producers.
The provisional agreement still requires approval from the Council of the EU before the new rules can enter into force.
Industry counts the cost
The regulation passed despite years of consumer research indicating that shoppers are not confused by terms such as ‘veggie burger’ or ‘plant-based steak,’ and opposition from Germany, the EU’s largest plant-based market, as well as major retailers including Lidl and Aldi. An analysis by the German Federal Association for Alternative Protein Sources (BALPro) estimated the cost to Germany’s domestic plant-based industry at around €250 million, arising from rebranding, new packaging, and marketing adjustments across the supply chain.
A long road to a vote
The path to Tuesday’s result was protracted. The Parliament first backed an amendment restricting meat-related terminology in October 2025, which then entered trilogue negotiations with the Council and European Commission. Those talks collapsed in December 2025 after the restricted term list was extended at a late stage, catching other negotiators off guard. The file was subsequently passed to the Cyprus presidency for resolution in 2026.
Rapporteur Céline Imart (EPP, FR) stated, “The agreement also represents an undeniable success for traditional livestock production. Terms such as ‘steak’ and ‘liver’ are now strictly reserved for livestock products, to prevent unfair competition and reward unique agricultural know-how. Finally, the text explicitly bans lab-grown or cell-based products from using the designation ‘meat,’ taking a decisive step towards preserving our agricultural and food heritage.”
