CMO: Europe recognises that words matter, and strengthens farmers position
Farm Europe and EAT Europe welcome the provisional agreement reached by the negotiators of the European Parliament, led by the rapporteur Celine Imart, and the Cyprus presidency related to the revision of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) regulation.
While the agreement will need to be assessed in the details, the decision to protect key denominations as steak, to pave the way for further protection as well as to exclude cellular or lab grown products from the usage of meat related denominations is a major step forward to protect both producers and consumers. Farm Europe and Eat Europe also welcome the extension of mandatory contractual relations which will provide visibility and enhance farmers’ negotiating power.
We congratulate MEP Céline Imart and her colleagues for their commitment as well as the persons involved in the European commission, Commissioner Hansen in particular, and Member States who brought their weight to reach this much needed agreement.
Transparency means calling food by its correct name. Naming is not a marketing gimmick—it directly affects citizens’ health and wellbeing. Consumers must be accurately informed, especially regarding the nutritional value and level of processing of the products they purchase. We particularly support the explicit recognition of the need for EU-wide harmonisation of terminology related to meat products—bringing the rules closer to the standards already in place for the dairy sector.
This is an important step forward, in line with the joint appeal by Farm Europe and EAT Europe to Commissioners Várhelyi and Hansen, giving voice to the “Words Matter” campaign launched in October 2024. Our campaign underlines the need to ensure consumers can clearly distinguish between animal-based products and their imitations — many of which are highly processed and have different nutritional profiles — thus avoiding misleading marketing and market confusion. This is why we will continue defending the need to keep open the possibility of adding other key meat denominations in the list agreed yesterday.
Farm Europe and Eat Europe also welcome that the deal — in line with what the European Parliament asked — constitutes an important step to improve the functioning of the EU food chain and overcome the chronic weakness of the agricultural link, clarifying contractual relations — including written contracts as a general rules, despite exceptions and opt-out that still need to be analysed, and enhancing farmers’ capacity to get organised by consolidating offer.