Starmer’s EU reset could ditch ‘steak’ for Brussels labels | Politics | News
Andy Burnham, who is running in the Makerfield by-election, previously said he wanted to return to Brussels, but recently backed off his claim.
Now the Conservative Party is warning that Britain’s cultured meat industry could be caught in the crossfire of Labour’s plans as companies could be forced to stop using popular food names.
Regulations made in Brussels ban cultured meat producers from using familiar terms such as steak, chicken or beef when marketing their products.
Instead, food technology companies must use labels such as “cell-grown protein preparation.”
The UK is currently outside the EU’s single market following Brexit, meaning British manufacturers are not automatically bound by the rules.
But critics warn Labour’s EU reset agenda could change that.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said Sir Keir was trying to reopen old sections with the EU plan.
He said the plan “risks stifling our burgeoning tech sector by forcing cultured meat producers to replace familiar and valid terms like ‘steak’ with bureaucratic labels like ‘cell-grown protein preparation.’
Mr Wood accused Sir Keir of “trying to reopen old divisions” in what he described as a “desperate attempt to save his prime ministership”.
He added: “While Labor looks to the past, the Conservatives under new leadership are focusing on Britain’s future.”
The EU ban allows for a three-year transition period and covers a long list of terms that include beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, duck, tenderloin, ribs, wings, breast, ribeye, T-bone and bacon.
More general terms such as burger, sausage and nugget may still be used.
The row comes as Sir Keir faces criticism over his agenda to reset the EU, with opponents accusing him of abandoning regulatory freedoms won by the 2016 Brexit vote.
The Daily Express is campaigning for Whitehall to ‘Give Us a Decent Brexit’, demanding the country withdraw from the ECHR, cut EU bureaucracy and impose a 12-mile exclusion zone around the UK to protect our fishing industry.
The Labor Party has been approached for comment.
