The Government of Belgium has announced that it is unlikely to ban ‘meaty’ labels on vegan foods as no political census was reached regarding the proposal.

A number of Belgium meat trade bodies, including the General Farmers’ Syndicate, the Federation of Meat Producers, Farmer’s Union and the Union of Butchers were consulted, were brought together in 2020 as part of a working group to determine whether ‘meaty’ labels like ‘chicken’, ‘steak’ and ‘bacon’ were misleading to customers.

According to Belgium news website Nieuwsblad, Economy Minister Pierre-Yves Dermagne said that there was “still great dissonance among the various stakeholders”.

“We feared that very restrictive guideline regarding permitted vegetarian names would seriously compromise the accessibility and promotion of vegetarian food”, said Green Party MP Barbara Creemers.

This comes just months after the French Government submitted a draft decree banning ‘meaty’ labels from French vegan products.