Let my meat be meat: reserve traditional meat-specific denominations for meat products only!

First and foremost: meat is meat. Delicious salami, ham, bresaola, sausages, mortadella etc… have always been made with meat. These great food traditions go back centuries, and they should be kept alive. Therefore, a simple marketing standard could be appropriate to protect traditional sales denominations. Denominations like ham, salami, bresaola and bacon should be reserved only for meat products, as consumers always have and always will associate those terms to meat-based foodstuff.

Secondly: this is not a petition against vegan/vegetarian foodstuff, but to the misleading idea that a vegan ham or a vegan bresaola can replace traditional products nutritionally, and can even be healthier and more eco-friendly. This is not necessarily the case.

In recent years many companies producing plant-based products have been using the names of products that are traditionally of animal origin on the market, whilst using strong advertising and marketing strategies to support that. There is however, no such thing as vegetarian salami, ham, bacon, pork pie or meat salad.

Consumers should be able to base their choice on reliable information, that fairly reflects the product characteristics. It is important to bear in mind that every food product has its specific ingredients, and therefore its own nutritional properties and characteristics. To ensure fair competition and transparency for consumers, the use of the same denominations by products from different food categories should be avoided.

The legislation that is currently on the table, furthers a similar decision: terms related to dairy are already protected in EU legislation. The protection must be respected by all supply chain partners and be fully enforced by all competent authorities of the EU Member States at all times. In the case of other terms linked to products of animal origin (i.e. meat), this protection should equally be granted by EU legislation to ensure the same level of fair competition and transparency.