Like what is the problem? Hamburgers don't have any ham in them.

The farmers and Big Agriculture are afraid. Meat is getting expensive and vegan alternatives are getting cheaper.

If what they did to milk and cheese is any indication, putting "burger alternative" on the packaging is good enough, so in the end it's going to be a big nothing burger.

Or just do it like they do with vegan cheese and call it "burger alternative" so it's legally not a burger.

This is day-to-day shit politicians have to vote on. Went to my state capitol to protest as a senior. Blew me away how fast they were cranking through the votes.

"On proposal $X, <very short descriptive blurb>, all those in favor?"

We see headlines like this because it's so ridiculous. But it's just the daily grind to legislators.

Who knows what concession(s) they got for bringing this dumb issue to the table? Maybe a concession on one of the issues you noted?

Wait baby powder isn't made from real babies?

Not really, it's more of a farmer's lobby protecting animal products from vegetarian alternatives.

Which as someone else says below is a bit neutral and doesn't do much, but hey. They did it to milk.

Guessing it's some bargaining chip with the industry on the wider legislation they're passing? This stuff is pretty byzantine. European agricultural industries are constantly on the verge of setting stuff on fire. It's a full time job to be even vaguely aware of what's going on with them.

I mean, paper straws are not great for the environment either though. Better to go without or have a reusable straw.

They already did that. It's all soy drink instead of soy milk, and it says "vegan alternative for cheese", with "alternative for" in small print, or just "cheese alternative". That kind of thing. It might have delayed some sales, but in general the vegan market grew anyway.

Hamburg to be renamed to Hamfrikadelle.