Plant-based food products first target of broader agricultural policy reform

As the plant-based product sector continues to grow, some regulators are looking to establish more stringent parameters around it. In October, the European Parliament advanced a proposal, known as Amendment 645, to ban the use of meat-related names in the labelling of plant-based products.

The prohibited words include burger, steak, sausage, chicken, and egg white, among others. The EU has previously banned the use of dairy names such as milk and cheese on plant-based products. However, the ban on meat-related names has varying levels of support across the three EU government bodies. The European Council’s negotiating position does not include any prohibitions at all, while the European Commission put forth a narrower position that would only limit terms like chicken and tenderloin.

The bigger picture

The proposed restrictions are part of a larger reform package to simplify the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) rules. The CAP was established in 1962 to “help farmers make a decent living, ensure food security in the EU, and maintain rural areas while contributing to tackling climate change.”

The CAP provides support to farmers in three main ways: direct payments to ensure income stability, market measures to protect the EU agricultural sector from market crises, and rural development measures to address the specific needs of those areas. Following farmer protests across Europe, the Commission presented a proposal to amend the CAP rules in March 2024. 

Farmers were particularly concerned about rising costs and financial strain, the threat of powerful distributors and retailers imposing unfair business conditions on them, and cheap imports from non-EU countries undercutting their prices. The EU has already adopted one simplification package in July 2024, which lowered some of the environmental protection requirements and removed controls and penalties for small farms.

EU authorities are now considering a second round of reforms to the CAP rules that were proposed by the European Commission in May 2025. Those include more flexibility regarding environmental requirements, simplified payments for small and medium-sized farms, simpler procedures for organic farms and farms affected by climate change and extreme weather, and less red tape for national authorities.

The European Parliament adopted its negotiating position in October and will now begin trialogue discussions with the European Council and the Commission. In addition to the reforms to the CAP rules, there is likely to be considerable discussion around funding for the CAP, which is facing a reduced long-term budget.

Looking ahead

The simplification package, if adopted, will take great strides to reduce the red tape EU farmers must contend with under the CAP rules. However, if Amendment 645 advances, that will introduce an additional compliance burden for producers and retailers.

Amendment 645 has an uncertain future with shaky support from the Council and Commission and strong opposition from environmentalists. It is worth bearing in mind that the European Parliament previously rejected a similar ban in 2020—although the political dynamics shifted following the farmer protests in 2024.

Farmers, food manufacturers, and retailers should closely monitor updates around the simplification package and the proposed ban on meat-related names. The final regulations could have significant impacts for the food sector.

Trusted by the world’s leading brands, Sedgwick Brand Protection has managed more than 7,000 of the most time-critical and sensitive product recalls in 150+ countries and 50+ languages, over 30 years. To find out more about our product recall and incident response solutions, visit our website here.