Let It Stand: The Music Legend Urges EU to Scrap Restriction on Vegetarian ‘Sausages’.

Paul McCartney has joined calls for the European Commission to dismiss efforts to ban the use of descriptors such as “banger” and “patty” for vegetarian foods.

A Contentious Ruling

The former Beatle has teamed up with eight members of parliament who have petitioned the European Commission, arguing that a ban ratified in October by the EU parliament would solve a non-issue while hindering progress on climate goals.

These proposed regulations would mean the demise for the use of names such as cutlet, patty, banger or fillet when marketing products derived from vegetables or plant-based proteins. Proposed replacements include the less appealing “rounds” or “cylinders”.

“To stipulate that burgers and sausages are ‘vegan’ should be sufficient for reasonable consumers to grasp what they are eating. This also encourages attitudes which are essential to our well-being and that of the Earth,” stated McCartney.

A Prominent Campaigner

McCartney is one of the world’s most visible advocates of a plant-based diet. He and his late wife established the Linda McCartney meat-free food line in 1991, and he and their daughters Stella and Mary initiated the global “Meat Free Monday” initiative to persuade people to eat less meat.

These meat-free alternatives have been integral to a global shift of increased interest in products to substitute for meat, although financial backing has declined since a bubble during the coronavirus pandemic.

Political Pressure

But as popularity has increased of vegan foods has come a strong reaction, notably from the politically powerful livestock and meat industries, which are concerned about the consequences of lower demand on livelihoods.

The European parliament decided 355–247 to forbid “meat-associated” names from being used on vegan foods. According to reports, one French MEP, a representative of the conservative European People’s party, informed the parliament: “I accept that steak, cutlet or sausage are products from our agricultural sector. Full stop. No lab-grown imitations, no plant-based products.”

Further Repercussions

The correspondence signed by the McCartney family and the British MPs argued that the European regulations may pressure the UK into alterations as well, because the trade and laws are still so linked in spite of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

The EU has a well-known “protected designation of origin” system for blocking businesses from trading off the names of products associated with specific places, such as sparkling wine from France, Greek olives or Parma ham. But the bid to limit the use of generic terms is more controversial.

The Problem of Definitions

Many of the terms that would be proscribed have flexible definitions. For instance, lexicons describe a sausage firstly in relation to meat but additionally as “an object shaped like a sausage”. Further complicating the issue, the key meaning of “burger” is often given as a “flat round mass of chopped animal or plant matter”.

The eight parliamentary supporters comprise ex- opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn and ex- environmental party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.