The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling on the European Commission to halt funding for NGOs that lobby on behalf of plant-based alternatives to animal products, and to commission scientific studies into what it terms “food substitutes,” with particular concern raised about their presence in school meal programs.
The resolution, adopted on 10 May by 426 MEPs (73%) in favour, with 119 against and 40 abstentions, centres on securing the future of the EU’s livestock sector. Several of its provisions take direct aim at the alternative protein industry and the organisations that advocate for dietary transition away from animal products.
NGO funding under threat
The document calls on the Commission “to stop funding NGOs conducting targeted lobbying and conveying a misleading, militant and ideological image of livestock farming in Europe,” and demands that all recipients of EU consolidated funds disclose their meetings with EU institutional representatives when seeking to influence policy.
The language has significant implications for a number of European advocacy organisations that receive EU funding and campaign for plant-based food policy, reduced meat consumption, and dietary transition.
School food policy singled out
The resolution urges the Commission to work with scientists to study the effects of “food substitutes,” warning against “the uncritical promotion of nutritionally and environmentally inadequate food substitutes as replacements for traditional animal-sourced foods.” It raises particular concern about the inclusion of such products “in food baskets for children and young people in schools.”
The document does include a concession that “traditional animal-sourced foods, together with plant-based foods, can contribute to a balanced and nutritious diet,” but the overall framing positions plant-based alternatives as nutritionally suspect compared to conventional animal products, a characterisation that conflicts with a substantial body of independent nutritional research and the positions of major health organisations, including the World Health Organization and the EAT-Lancet Commission.
What this means for the sector
The resolution is non-binding and does not carry the force of law. However, it signals the political direction of the Parliament’s agriculture committee at a time when the European alternative protein industry is already navigating a difficult environment, including stalled meat labelling legislation and a prolonged period of reduced investor activity.
Should the Commission act on the NGO funding provisions, organisations working on food system transition and sustainable diets could lose access to EU grant funding, narrowing the range of voices feeding into agricultural and food policy at the European level.
