6 ms·
EU lawmakers push to ban term 'veggie-burger'
- Ekaros 11mo agoWell better they spend time on this sort of stuff than say chat control. (Not that I am not supporter as meat eater...)
- ReptileMan 11mo agoFood safety and food traditions protections is one of the few areas in which EU are actually good.
- r9295 11mo agoUnsure what either of those have to do with this law
- ReptileMan 11mo agoHamburger is somewhat traditional food. So it makes sense to be regulated as such - to not be able to name any crap hamburger, but only specific crap hamburger. One that is beef patty inside a bun. Having a animal derived patty by grinding is essential part of some item being called hamburger.
- f_devd 11mo agoI realize this may be satire (Poe's law and all). But I disagree 'hamburger' should get protected status, in anything except the exact quotation without clear prefix/suffix. "Vegetarian Hamburger" (in near-equal font pt) should be fine, Veggie-burger shouldn't even be up for debate imo. If fine-print is confusing consumers maybe we should improve our labeling standards rather than protecting a food category not in need of protection.
- bzzzt 11mo agoI think that's reasonable regarding expectations, but the flip side is you can't make a vegan patty and call it 'vegan burger like patty'. The discussed regulation smells heavily of measures to protect the meat industry rather than the consumer who is absolutely able to discern between the classic and vegetarian alternatives.
- ReptileMan 11mo agoHow will it protect farmers? This won't change consumer habits one bit.
- bzzzt 11mo agoWhy not? Consumers are more likely to give vegetarian products a chance when they are 'drop in' replacements. A 'vegetarian burger' instead of a 'burger' would sell better than a 'plant based patty'.
- FranzFerdiNaN 11mo agoWhen i buy a hamburger in the supermarket i dont get a bun. So clearly the thing i buy shouldnt be called a hamburger.
- thenthenthen 11mo agoAlso, its made from beef, why is it called HAMburger?! /s
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- saubeidl 11mo agoBut is it truly a hamburger if it's not from Hamburg?
- tmtvl 11mo agoFeel free to protect 'Hamburg-style Steak', but protecting 'burger' is stupid. Also very odd coincidence that the rise of vegetarian/vegan alternatives prompts the reaction, when nobody batted an eye at 'fish burger' or 'chicken burger'. I suppose that anything which promotes not murdering innocent animals is bad.
- FranzFerdiNaN 11mo agoThis is a ridiculous move. Its just the right-wing going Trump-like anti-woke owning the liberals.
- saubeidl 11mo agoThis is classic right wing identity politics. They are so obsessed with silly labels - is there nothing more important to deal with?
- theandrewbailey 11mo agoDouble-plus good. /s
- bradley13 11mo agoSome food labelling is misleading. One example I have seen ist (small) "veggie" (big) "CRISPY CHICKEN". But burger? Sure, burgers are often beef, but there have always been other kinds. "Chicken burger", "crab burger", so why not "veggie burger". The EU likes making regulations, to the point that they are killing their own industry
- t0rt01se 11mo agoOoc what did you mean by 'their own' industry? The industry of making regulations or the food industry?
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 11mo agoI read it as general industry within the EU.
- GoToRO 11mo agoThe problem is that on the packaging Burger will be written with huge letters and then vegan is metioned somewhere in a corner. I bought cheese that was not cheese :)) Imagine my disappointment.
- notpushkin 11mo agoSo maybe we should tackle the root cause somehow instead?
- Jensson 11mo agoThat is what they are doing here. Its less work for the few people who wanna call it veggie burger to change than for everyone else to change.
- notpushkin 11mo ago> [x] will be written with huge letters and then [y] is metioned somewhere in a corner I don’t understand how banning a specific term will address this general case.
- jjgreen 11mo agoThey'll be coming for the sausage next https://duckduckgo.com/?t=lm&q=yes+minister+euro+sausage&ia=videos&iax=videos&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DOzeDZtx3wUw https://duckduckgo.com/?t=lm&q=yes+minister+euro+sausage&ia=...
- tcfhgj 11mo agoI found that mostly people who are opposed to the existence of these products per se are proponents of this ban.
- tyleo 11mo agoVegetables are delicious. I wish vegan options would lean into this instead of trying to be fake meat. IMO grilled mushrooms are tastier than grilled goop pressed into burger form.
- FranzFerdiNaN 11mo agoSo its the right move because you dont like the taste of something?
- tyleo 11mo agoIt’s more about it being fake when they are delicious by themselves. Vegetables don’t need improvement, they are already respectable. I think the idea just bothers me, “vegetables aren’t good enough, what you really want is fake meat.”
- KempyKolibri 11mo agoTwo different things. If you don’t want to eat animal products for ethical reasons but you want something high protein and/or similar in taste/texture to a beef burger, eating a vegetable stir fry isn’t going to cut it. That’s what these products are for.
- odyssey7 11mo agoSome of modern vegetarianism in the West has involved reinventing familiar entrees to make them vegetarian. A lot of those efforts really have been disappointing. I'd encourage new vegetarians to try embracing vegetarian staples from places like India, where culinary traditions have a lengthy proven history of supporting healthy and satisfying vegetarianism. But I'd also say, some veggie burgers really are great. They taste good, they're satisfying, and nobody is deceived when they read "veggie burger" on the menu. This regulation is nonsense. It's just telling vegetarians that their linguistic tradition around their diets -- part of their cultural heritage -- is now banned in the EU.
- tyleo 11mo ago
- odyssey7 11mo agoThis move will expand the public's belief that regulation means "a ridiculous incursion of rights," leading to greater belief that society is better off without regulation.
- potato3732842 11mo agoAny legislative body that sees fit to weigh in on such minutia ought not to be legislating. "Veggie burger" as a term has been in common usage by the public long before any of the other words that convey the same thing.
- poszlem 11mo agoSo a net positive.
- saubeidl 11mo agoI'd call it a net negative. A lot of regulations are straight up good - clean drinking water, food safety, no sketchy chemicals in clothes, electric appliances that don't catch on fire, the GDPR, consumer protections etc etc are all unequivocally good things. Things like this bring the very useful tool of regulations into disrepute.
- rokkamokka 11mo agoNo regulations is a fast-track to the megacorp dystopia, sadly... No regulations means no incentive to care about the actual living people
- mrtksn 11mo agoIt depends, its a war between the right to know what you are eating without studying it thoroughly first and the right to claim things as something that they are not. In Europe people tend to be the first kind and see the government as tool for protecting them from the second kind. The revolution is unlikely.
- bluecalm 11mo ago
- pndy 11mo ago> a regulation designed to give farmers a stronger negotiating position Honestly, this feels like a smoke and mirrors done ahead of Mercosur agreement enrollment which may put European farmers especially the smaller ones on lost position facing competition from South America.
- nicole_express 11mo agoWe're going to see more ridiculous overreach like this as alternatives to meat consumption get more popular. (I say ridiculous because no one is getting confused by "veggie-burger")
- derbOac 11mo agoThis sort of thing would be comical if it weren't so blatantly and corruptly protecting meat producers. The reason the term evolved is because it works well in meaning. You don't have to like veggie burgers to see what's going on. Let the verbal gymnastics commence. Or maybe places should start naming veggie burgers after the EU governance in satire?
- intended 11mo agoAs an inveterate “get off of my lawn” crabby person, I can get behind this. I tilt against the windmills of the “vegetarian omelette”.
- KempyKolibri 11mo ago> The EU has already defined dairy items milk, butter, cream, yoghurt and cheese as "products secreted by mammary glands" I think they should just label things more explicitly like this - accelerate veganism 100x when people in the supermarkets have to choose between “pressed soybeans” and “mammary gland secretions”.
- someNameIG 11mo agoSo are they going to change the name of peanut butter? Coconut milk? Neither are secretions of mammary glands
- KempyKolibri 11mo agoMonkey nut paste and big hairy ball juice, obviously.
- crtasm 11mo agoWhile this seems ridiculous I do wish fast food places in particular would be specific what they're selling - is your veggie burger some vegetables/beans in a crispy coating, or a textured thing trying to emulate meat? I've never eaten meat and don't want the latter.
- Simulacra 11mo agoThis reminds me of the ongoing problem with products being labeled "natural."
- okl 11mo agoProblem here is that the excessive focus on secondary issues raises the perception of a problem solving deficit which reduces support/legitimacy for the political system. It would be nice to focus on solving more existential problems of which there are enough.
- tmtvl 11mo ago> The EU has already defined dairy items milk, butter, cream, yoghurt and cheese as "products secreted by mammary glands", meaning that what might otherwise be called oat milk is instead generally referred to as oat drink. Meanwhile, back in 1755: > MILK. n.s. [meelc, Saxon; melck, Dutch.] > 2. Emulsion made by contusion of seeds. > Pistachoes, so they be good and not musty, joined with almonds in almond milk, or made into a milk of themselves, like unto almond milk, are an excellent nourisher.
- mytailorisrich 11mo agoThe EU is a champion of consumers rights as usually applauded on HN. Seems exactly what they are doing here: to avoid misleading or confusing naming practices.
- 28304283409234 11mo ago"Because this is the most urgent matter at hand, dad?" -My 14 year old daughter.
- stanski 11mo agoThis is ridiculous. A burger is a construct. Sure, you can't call a veggie patty a beef patty, but how does the meat industry own the word burger?
- johnea 11mo agoPersonally, as someone who is primarily vegetarian, I agree with this prohibition. I've found it very annoying for years when a veggie food shop calls it's products "veggie chicken nuggets" and the like. Not only is it annoying that they use meat product names to market veggie products, but more importantly it also obscures the actual ingredients of the product.
- belorn 11mo agoI am always reminded of the Yes minister "The Emulsified High-Fat Offal Tube" joke which is close to 40 years old now (https://youtu.be/sPwQ0PmK9lw?si=aOvPYUpJcsw8g_kN&t=68 https://youtu.be/sPwQ0PmK9lw?si=aOvPYUpJcsw8g_kN&t=68). The EU has a very long history of standardize food names, with the natural result that some stuff get forced to change their name. One of my favorite of such thing is that there seem to be a rule dictating that if you have something called strawberry juice, it has to have strawberries in them. Once I got to the store and the name on one kind of bottle was "Strawberry inspired taste", which made me laugh quite badly.
- mrguyorama 11mo agoI love strict product labeling rules and laws. Thanks to those kinds of regulations, people like my mom can buy stuff knowing that it won't hurt them unexpectedly. I'm frustrated with the status quo of being able to say "100% real chicken" in your 50% by weight chicken nuggets. It pisses me off that saying "gluten free" on products that should never contain gluten improves sales, and I find that a poor excuse to allow that. I'm tired of all the puffery that claims in big bold letters "Best product" and then in a tiny print somewhere else "compared to a fake product we only ran in a small community to invent this accolade" Unfortunately, this "article" provides zero actual information. No actual text of what was voted on. No context for when or where "veggie burger" is supposedly banned. So great, can't find out if there might be nuance to this issue, can't find out any arguments, can't even find the actual words which were voted on. Oh, actually looks like this was a vote for an amendment? No actual law has been voted on yet. That has not stopped anyone here from makings broad and sweeping generalizations, as usual.