Let It Be: The Ex-Beatle Appeals to EU to Abandon Restriction on Vegetarian ‘Sausages’.

Paul McCartney has joined calls for the EU to reject a move to ban the use of descriptors such as “banger” and “patty” for plant-based products.

A Divisive Decision

The former Beatle has teamed up with eight UK parliamentarians who have contacted the European Commission, stating that a ban approved in October by the European parliament would address a nonexistent problem while slowing progress on environmental targets.

These proposed regulations would signal the termination for the use of terms such as steak, burger, sausage or escalope when referring to products derived from meat-free ingredients. Proposed replacements include the less appealing “discs” or “tubes”.

“To mandate that burgers and sausages are ‘vegan’ should be enough for the average person to grasp what they are eating. This also promotes mindsets which are essential to our health and that of the environment,” stated McCartney.

A Longstanding Advocate

The musician is one of the world’s most prominent proponents of a plant-based diet. Alongside his wife Linda founded the Linda McCartney meat-free food line in 1991, and he and their daughters Stella and Mary launched the global “Monday Without Meat” campaign to encourage people to eat less meat.

The brand's plant-based bangers and patties have been integral to a global trend of growing popularity in products to replace meat, even if funding has diminished since a peak during the COVID-19 crisis.

Farming Opposition

However, alongside the rise of plant-based products has come a strong reaction, notably from the lobbying livestock and meat industries, which are anxious about the potential effects of reduced consumption on jobs.

The European parliament voted 355–247 to outlaw “meat-related” names from being used on vegetarian items. Per news sources, one French MEP, a representative of the conservative European People’s party, stated to the parliament: “I believe that these traditional terms are products from our agricultural sector. End of story. No lab-grown imitations, no vegetarian versions.”

Wider Consequences

The petition backed by the McCartney family and the UK politicians argued that the European regulations may pressure Britain into alterations as well, because the economic and legal frameworks are still so intertwined in spite of the UK’s exit from the EU.

The EU has a well-known “protected designation of origin” system for preventing businesses from trading off the names of products from particular regions, such as sparkling wine from France, Greek olives or Parma ham. But the bid to restrict the use of common words is far more contentious.

The Issue with Meanings

A number of the phrases that would be forbidden have fluid interpretations. For instance, lexicons describe a sausage firstly in relation to meat but additionally as “an object resembling a sausage”. Making matters more complex, the key meaning of “burger” is often given as a “flat round mass of minced meat or vegetables”.

The eight parliamentary supporters include former opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn and former environmental party leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.