Food firms urge Europe not to ban calling non-meat products ‘sausages’

More than a dozen food companies have urged the European Commission not to ban the use of words such as “sausage” and “burger” for non-meat products. Companies including Linda McCarney Foods, Quorn and THIS have signed a joint letter calling on commissioners to “let common sense prevail” ahead of a debate on the proposed ban, which they say would cause “unnecessary confusion” for customers “without helping anyone”. A ban would mean, for example, bean burgers sold in Europe having to be relabelled as “patties” or “discs”, while the Welsh breakfast staple Glamorgan sausages – made of cheese and leeks – would probably become Glamorgan “tubes”. The letter, organised by the Vegetarian Society and sent to representatives of the European Commission, the European parliament and the Council of the European Union, follows a similar plea from Paul McCarney and eight MPs in December, in which the musician said labelling vegetarian sausages as such “should be enough for sensible people to ...