You will be redirected to the website of our parent company, Schönherr Rechtsanwälte GmbH: www.schoenherr.eu
As plant-based products account for a fast-growing share of the European food market, the question of what they can be called has become far more than a matter of marketing.
On 5 March 2026, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached a provisional agreement to restrict the use of certain meat-related names on plant-based (and cell-cultured) food products across the EU. The deal, struck in trilogue negotiations as part of a broader revision of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) Regulation, draws a new line between terms that plant-based producers may continue to use and those reserved exclusively for products derived from slaughtered animals.
Under the provisional agreement, 31 specific meat-related terms will be banned from use on plant-based and vegan product labels and marketing materials. The restricted list covers two main categories: animal-species names (such as beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, ovine and goat) and meat-cut terminology (including steak, bacon, breast, thigh, drumstick, loin, ribs, T-bone, ribeye, sirloin, tenderloin, rump, shank, shoulder, chop, wing, brisket, flank and liver).
Crucially, however, format-based product names – such as burger, sausage, nuggets and escalope – remain permitted, provided the product is clearly labelled as plant-based or vegan. This means that terms such as "veggie burger", "plant-based sausage" or "vegan nuggets" can continue to be used on packaging and in advertising. The compromise reflects the co-legislators' view that while animal-species and meat-cut names should be protected for products of animal origin, generic product-format names that describe a shape or eating occasion, rather than an animal source, do not mislead consumers.
The agreement also introduces a formal definition of "meat" as "edible parts of animals" and extends naming restrictions pre-emptively to novel foods produced through cellular agriculture (so-called "lab-grown" or "cell-cultured" meat), even though such products are not yet commercially available on the EU market.
It is important to emphasise that the trilogue agreement of 5 March 2026 is a provisional political deal, not yet final law. The compromise still awaits adoption by the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (representing Member State ministers) and a final vote in the European Parliament plenary. Once formally adopted and published in the Official Journal of the European Union, the new rules will enter into force. Producers will then benefit from a three-year transition period, during which they may continue to sell products bearing existing packaging and gradually adapt their labels and branding to comply with the new requirements.
Even though the legislation is not yet final, the regulatory direction is already clear, and businesses in the plant-based food sector would be well advised to begin assessing its practical impact now. Key areas to consider include:
Labelling and packaging review: Companies should audit their current product portfolios against the list of 31 restricted terms. Any product name, front-of-pack description or marketing claim that includes a banned term (e.g. "vegan steak", "plant-based bacon", "meat-free chicken strips") will need to be replaced before the end of the transition period. Format-based names such as "burger", "sausage" and "nuggets" remain safe, but only where appropriate plant-based or vegan qualifiers are used. Companies should begin budgeting for packaging redesigns, updated marketing materials and potential changes to online product listings and point-of-sale displays.
Multi-language and multi-market considerations: The application of the restricted terms across all EU official languages raises significant translation and consistency challenges. A term that is clearly meat-specific in one language may have broader or different connotations in another. Without careful coordination, the same product could face different naming constraints in different national markets, creating fragmentation within the Single Market.
Novel foods and future-proofing: Companies active in the cultivated meat or cellular agriculture space should note that the restrictions will apply to their products from the outset, even if commercial authorisation is still pending.
Trademark law consequences: Beyond labelling and marketing compliance, the new naming restrictions have significant implications for trademarks. Businesses that have registered trademarks containing any of the 31 banned terms for plant-based products may find that their registrations are vulnerable to challenge, such as "PLANTED CHICKEN" or "BEYOND STEAK". Even where a registration is not formally challenged, a trademark holder may be unable to use the mark as registered without simultaneously breaching the new food-labelling rules, effectively rendering the trademark commercially unusable in the EU. Trademark holders may therefore need to file new trademarks that replace the restricted terms with permissible alternatives.
While the final contours of the legislation are still to be confirmed, its direction is no longer in doubt. For plant-based food businesses, early preparation will be key – not only to ensure compliance, but to maintain clarity, consistency and consumer trust in an evolving regulatory landscape.
Márk
Kovács
Attorney at Law
hungary