Answer given by Ms Kyriakides on behalf of the European Commission

26.11.2020

At EU level, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers[1] contains clear provisions that food information shall be easy to understand and not misleading for the consumer.

Article 7 of the regulation provides that food information shall not be misleading as to the characteristics of the food and, in particular, as to its nature, identity, properties and composition or by suggesting, by means of the appearance, the description or pictorial representations, the presence of a certain ingredient or food, while in reality a component being naturally present or an ingredient normally used in that food has been substituted with a different component or a different ingredient.

The Commission considers that the existing EU legal framework already provides a strong basis to ensure that consumers are appropriately informed to allow them to make a distinction between meat and meat products from plant-based products.

• [1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32011R1169&from=EN