A vegan burger is still a burger, according to Paul McCartney, who's among the more prominent names fighting a proposed EU law that would ban the use of meat-related terms for plant-based foods. "To stipulate that burgers and sausages are 'plant-based,' 'vegetarian' or 'vegan' should be enough for sensible people to understand what they are eating," the former Beatle and longtime vegetarian tells the Times of London. This would also encourage attitudes benefitting the health of people and the planet, McCartney says. It should be noted that his family owns Linda McCartney Foods, which offers vegetarian and vegan sausages, burgers, and pies, per the Guardian.
Eight British MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, have also expressed their displeasure with the bill, proposed by French center-right MEP Céline Imart as a way to honor farmers and reduce consumer confusion. In a letter to Brussels, they argue the bill could instead "increase confusion" and "undermine economic growth," per Politico. Though the UK is no longer a part of the EU, MPs worry the bill would affect British supermarkets if it were to go into law.
Having already passed a vote in the European Parliament, it now awaits approval by a majority of EU member states. Meanwhile, critics point to EU polling, showing consumers generally understand the difference between real meat and plant-based foods that mimic meat, as well as the Collins dictionary, which defines a burger as a "flat round mass of minced meat or vegetables," and a sausage as "an object shaped like a sausage."
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