Lab-grown meat does not a burger make, EU lawmakers insist

This week the EU Parliament voted in favor of an amendment that would ban vegetarian and vegan products from using terms including “burger” and “sausage.” But the proposed ban goes further than that, and would also prevent cell-cultured meat — a.k.a. lab-grown — from using the same terms.

The regulation, passed by lawmakers 355 to 247, still needs to get past the EU Commission and member state governments before it becomes law. But if it does, it requires that terms including “steak,” “burger,” “sausage,” and even “egg white” be “reserved exclusively for products containing meat.” That’s a non-exhaustive list, and the legislation is intended to cover all names currently used for meat products.

But the bill is also explicit that the meaty terms “shall exclude cell-cultured products,” which could pose a problem for the burgeoning cultured meat industry. “Lab-grown flesh disk” doesn’t have the same ring as “hamburger,” and while the industry is still years away from perfecting lab-grown steak, it would like to be able to call it that once it does.

The restriction was proposed with the aim of supporting European livestock farmers, and backed by an increasingly right wing parliament, but has been opposed by supermarkets, climate groups, and even Burger King. A similar measure was voted down in 2020, but the EU does have precedent here, having banned the use of dairy terms like “milk” or “cheese” for plant-based alternatives.