On 30th April 2026, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the European Commission to halt funding for NGOs that lobby in favour of plant-based alternatives to animal products, and to scrutinise the presence of these foods in school meals.
The resolution was backed by 426 MEPs, about 73% of the chamber, with 119 voting against and 40 abstaining. It is framed as a measure to “secure a sustainable future” for the EU livestock sector, and several passages explicitly target the alternative protein industry and organisations promoting dietary transition away from animal products. The text asks the Commission “to stop funding NGOs conducting targeted lobbying and conveying a misleading, militant and ideological image of livestock farming in Europe,” and requires that all beneficiaries of consolidated EU funds disclose any meetings with EU institutional representatives when seeking to influence policy.
These provisions put at risk the EU grants for advocacy organisations working on plant-based food policy, reduced meat consumption, and the wider food system transition, which currently rely on European funding streams. If implemented by the Commission, the measures could significantly narrow the range of civil society voices participating in EU agricultural and food policymaking.
School food is singled out in the document, which urges the Commission to work with scientists to study the effects of “food substitutes” and warns against “the uncritical promotion of nutritionally and environmentally inadequate food substitutes as replacements for traditional animal-sourced foods,” especially “in food baskets for children and young people in schools.” Although the resolution concedes that “traditional animal-sourced foods, together with plant-based foods, can contribute to a balanced and nutritious diet,” its overall framing portrays plant-based alternatives as nutritionally questionable compared with conventional animal products, in stark contrast with positions from independent nutritional research and major health authorities such as the World Health Organisation and the EAT-Lancet Commission.
The resolution is non-binding and does not itself change EU law, but it sends a clear political signal from the Parliament’s agriculture committee at a time when Europe’s alternative protein sector is already grappling with stalled meat labelling rules and reduced investor appetite.
