On this day in vegan history · May 25, 2021
Amendment 171 Is Shelved
For seven months, one clause in an EU farm bill threatened to make it illegal for an oat milk carton to look like a carton or taste like it sounded.
The facts
- Date
- 25 May 2021, during CAP reform trilogue negotiations
- Origin
- The European Parliament voted the restriction into the CAP reform text on 23 October 2020
- Opposition
- A coalition of 21 environmental, consumer and animal welfare groups opposed it; over 450,000 people signed a petition against it
- Outcome
- Parliament, Council and Commission all agreed to drop Amendment 171 from the final CAP reform text
On 25 May 2021, EU negotiators finishing the Common Agricultural Policy reform in Brussels quietly agreed to drop Amendment 171, a rule that would have stopped plant-based drinks and spreads from using dairy-style cartons, climate comparisons, allergen labels like 'does not contain milk,' or simple words like 'creamy' and 'buttery.' The European Parliament had voted the restriction into the CAP text back in October 2020, and by the time it reached the closed-door trilogue talks between Parliament, Council and Commission, it had become one of the most fought-over lines in the whole reform. A coalition of 21 environmental, consumer and animal welfare groups opposed it, and more than 450,000 people signed a petition against it. When the three institutions wrapped up negotiations, they let the amendment go. Nothing about how a soy drink actually tasted had changed; only the law's appetite for policing the word had.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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Finally, this nonsensical plan is off the table.
Elena Walden, Policy Manager at the Good Food Institute Europe, May 2021
Source: Good Food Institute Europe -
This decision must signal the end of absurd labelling restrictions on plant-based foods across all levels of government in Europe.
Elena Walden, Policy Manager at the Good Food Institute Europe, May 2021
Source: Good Food Institute Europe
Why it still matters
It kept the language of plant-based food plain and legible to shoppers, and it set a precedent EU dairy lobbyists have tried and failed to reverse ever since.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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