Algae related regulation & legislation

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===== Meat-related terms =====

Under the provisional agreement, 31 specific meat-related terms will be banned from use on labels and in marketing materials for plant-based and vegan products. The restricted list covers two main categories: animal-species names (such as beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, ovine and goat) and meat-cut terminology (including steak, bacon, breast, thigh, drumstick, loin, ribs, T-bone, ribeye, sirloin, tenderloin, rump, shank, shoulder, chop, wing, brisket, flank and liver).

format-based product names – such as burger, sausage, nuggets and escalope – remain permitted, provided the product is clearly labelled as plant-based or vegan. This means that terms such as "veggie burger", "plant-based sausage", or "vegan nuggets" can continue to be used on packaging and in advertising. The compromise reflects the co-legislators' view that while animal species and meat-cut names should be protected for products of animal origin, generic product-format names that describe a shape or eating occasion, rather than an animal source, do not mislead consumers. 

The agreement also introduces a formal definition of "meat" as "edible parts of animals" and extends naming restrictions pre-emptively to novel foods produced through cellular agriculture (so-called "lab-grown" or "cell-cultured" meat), even though such products are not yet commercially available on the EU market.

The trilogue agreement of 5 March 2026 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission is a provisional agreement to restrict the use of certain meat-related names on plant-based and cell-cultured food products. The deal is part of a broader revision of the Common Market Organisation (CMO). So far, this is a provisional political deal, not yet final law, awaiting adoption by the Agriculture and Fisheries Council and a final vote in the European Parliament plenary. Once formally adopted and published, the new rules will enter into force. Most likely producers will then have a three-year transition period, during which they may continue to sell products bearing existing packaging and gradually adapt their labels and branding to comply with the new requirements. 

__Relevance to algae__: Many algal products or extracts are targeted for use in meat-replacement products. There are also algal products targeted as a replacement for the Bovine Fetal Serum, which is an almost essential requirement for cell-cultured meat products.