ProVeg CIC
ProVeg International is a food awareness organisation working to transform the global food system by replacing animal-based products with plant-based and cultured alternatives.
ID: 988324839304-12
Lobbying Activity
Response to EU cardiovascular health plan
15 Sept 2025
ProVeg welcomes the opportunity to contribute to this public consultation on the EU Cardiovascular Health Plan. We support the ECs goal of reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its associated health burdens, and we emphasise the importance of prevention, particularly through healthier and more plant-based diets, as a cost-effective public health strategy. Please find our detailed response attached.
Read full responseMeeting with Piotr Müller (Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur) and NOVE and Palo Alto Networks Inc.
24 Mar 2025 · Evaluation of the Public Procurement Directives
Meeting with Ana Vasconcelos (Member of the European Parliament)
19 Mar 2025 · Introductory meeting
Response to Evaluation of the Public Procurement Directives
7 Mar 2025
ProVeg International (PVI) welcomes the possibility given by the European Commission (EC) to provide feedback on the Public Procurement Directives. This initiative is a unique opportunity to build a legislative framework that effectively accelerates the transition towards more sustainable food production and consumption patterns. Our feedback will focus on Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement. Please find attached ProVeg International's detailed feedback to the call for evidence on the Public procurement directives.
Read full responseMeeting with Stefan Köhler (Member of the European Parliament) and Deutscher Bauernverband and
19 Feb 2025 · Politischer Austausch
Meeting with Michal Wiezik (Member of the European Parliament) and European Vegetarian Union
31 Oct 2024 · Plant agricultural sector
Meeting with Cristina Guarda (Member of the European Parliament) and European Vegetarian Union
22 Oct 2024 · Food
Meeting with Anna Strolenberg (Member of the European Parliament) and European Vegetarian Union
16 Oct 2024 · Sustainable food system transition
Response to Modifying provisions relating to the promotion of agricultural products
8 Oct 2024
Given the substantial budget allocated to promotion activities for EU agri-food products, i.e. 185.9 million planned for 2024, it holds great potential to drive the transition to more sustainable consumption in the EU. The Farm to Fork Strategy, EU Beating Cancer Plan and more recently both the Science Advice for Policy of European Academies (SAPEA) and the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (ESABCC), all acknowledge the need to introduce measures to promote more plant-based diets, in the overall context of the shift towards healthy and sustainable diets. The decline in the number of applications to the EU agri-food promotion programmes is increasingly becoming a concerning matter, with the overall budget allocated to the policy being cut for 2025. To tackle this, we believe the issue of the access of small farmers and organic farmers organisations to promotion policy funding should be addressed. Indeed, the decline in the number of applications is notably due to the requirements regarding the type of eligible organisations, which particularly affect smaller organisations, which include many organic farmers, as they lack dedicated resources to fulfil these administrative requirements. Ensuring that the legislative framework promotes access to small farmers/farmers organisations, especially for those producing sustainable food products and in the organic sector, is thus needed. Therefore, we welcome that the delegated regulation aims at providing conditions for the proposing organisations that encourage wide access to information and promotion programmes and provides an alternative form of grant for the payment of eligible costs of the promotion programmes (e.g., lump sums). Focusing on the goal of contributing to the Farm to Fork Strategy, we believe there is an opportunity to allocate further funds towards promoting sustainable food products in a more balanced manner. During the period 2016-2020, it has been estimated that around a third of the funding has been allocated to promotional campaigns for meat and dairy products, while only 19% for the exclusive promotion of fruits and vegetables. Recently, the outcomes report from the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture also referred to the need for coherence between the agri-food promotion policy and other policy objectives, such as healthy eating guidelines and sustainability objectives. Therefore, it is imperative that EU agri-food policies reflect the above-mentioned objectives to ensure policy coherence. This means that further consideration of the contribution of the promotion policy to other EU policies, especially environment and climate-related, needs to be included in the allocation of funds to promotional campaigns. In other words, the EU promotion policy should proactively support plant-based food production. Ensuring wider access to promotion policy funds for small and organic farmers' organizations is essential. Greater coherence between the promotion policy and other EU policies can be achieved by aligning the goal of enhancing the competitiveness of EU agricultural products (as per Art. 2 of Regulation (EU) 1144/2014) with the objective of promoting healthy and sustainable diets. Promotion funds should be allocated in line with the scientific consensus on the need to transition to more sustainable consumption patterns, which emphasize plant-based diets. This would align with EU Member States' dietary guidelines by earmarking the majority of funds for promoting healthy and sustainable foods, including organic fruits, vegetables, pulses, nuts, and seeds.
Read full responseMeeting with Katarína Roth Neveďalová (Member of the European Parliament) and European Vegetarian Union
8 Oct 2024 · Sustainable food production
Meeting with Anja Hazekamp (Member of the European Parliament) and European Vegetarian Union
25 Sept 2024 · Priorities EU agrifood policies
Meeting with Christophe Clergeau (Member of the European Parliament)
19 Sept 2024 · Vegetal Proteins
Response to List of antimicrobials reserved for treatment of certain infections in humans
17 May 2022
ProVeg welcomes the opportunity to give feedback on the draft act regarding the list of antimicrobial medicines reserved for treating humans. With the fight against antimicrobial resistance being one of the priorities of the EU as laid out in the Farm to Fork Strategy, the draft act is insufficient.
The excessive use of antibiotics for the treatment of humans and animals in the past years has led to an increase in antimicrobial resistance, which is now responsible for 33,000 yearly deaths in the EU. This trend is expected to increase to 10 million cases worldwide in 2050. 75% of antiobiotics are used not for human health but in animal farming to counteract insufficient husbandry conditions and boost growth.
The proposed list needs to be oriented towards the so-called one-health approach and should therefore be extended to include the antibiotics the WHO identified as highest priority critically important antimicrobials.
Animals living under high welfare standards usually experience lower levels of stress and higher immunity and protection against diseases. This would drastically reduce the use of antibiotics in animal farming.
Therefore, the reasons behind the high use of antibiotics for animals need to be addressed by
● drastically reducing the number of animals farmed.
● drastically reducing the concentration of animals & increasing welfare standards
● addressing the high production and consumption of animal products.
The Commission needs to take current and future human health seriously and wholeheartedly commit to addressing the overuse of antibiotics, before it’s too late.
For further information, please do not hesitate to reach out to Jasmijn de Boo, Vice-President at ProVeg International - jasmijn.deboo@proveg.com.
ProVeg International is a food awareness organisation working to transform the global food system by replacing animal-based products with plant-based and cultured alternatives. ProVeg works with decision-making bodies, companies, investors, the media, and the general public to help the world transition to a society and economy that are less reliant on animal agriculture and more sustainable for all humans, animals, and our planet.
ProVeg has offices in nine countries across four continents and is active around the world. ProVeg has permanent observer status with the UNFCCC, special consultative status with ECOSOC, is accredited for UNEA, and has received the United Nations’ Momentum for Change Award.
Read full response19 Nov 2021
ProVeg International welcomes the opportunity to submit feedback on the draft act for the School fruit, vegetables & milk scheme – educational measures and the selection/approval of aid applicants (updates).
ProVeg International calls upon the European Commission and its Member States to include plant-based options in the EU school milk scheme, both in the scope of eligible products and in the educational measures.
This initiative adjusts the rules on the EU school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme and specifically mentions that Member States must ensure that accompanying educational measures are taken for all participating children.
The health of our children and their future on our planet should be of main concern. A balanced and healthy diet should be the focus of the scheme and the educational measures. It is worrying that, to our knowledge, plant-based voices have not been properly consulted. A misdirected stakeholder engagement process might prevent the EU school milk scheme from establishing what it set out to do.
The EU has committed to decarbonise its economy, foster sustainable and healthy food systems, and step up the fight against the major health threat that is cancer. To achieve those objectives, both the Farm to Fork Strategy and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan recommend adopting more plant-based diets, and this includes plant-based alternatives to dairy products.
Adults and children substitute plant milks for cow’s milk for a variety of reasons, including animal welfare concerns, plant-based products’ lower environmental impact, because of a dairy allergy or lactose intolerance, or for religious or personal preferences. Therefore, the school scheme should integrate more plant-based foods among eligible products, offering more diverse sources of proteins than only dairy products.
Plant-based alternatives to dairy can be equally as nutritious as dairy, and in addition most dairy alternatives contain less saturated fats and fewer calories. This helps to address childhood obesity, regarded by the World Health Organisation as one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century.
As much as 75% of the world’s adult human population is intolerant to ingested dietary lactose. Plant-based milks also contribute to inclusivity as they can offer all children, including those who choose not to consume dairy products, the chance to drink milk of some kind.
One in two American and European consumers uses plant milk, either by itself or in addition to cow’s milk, while in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions, it’s more than two-thirds of all consumers. This indicates that school provision of alternatives to dairy is lagging behind societal changes, and needs to catch up in order to meet changing consumer demands.
There is also an urgent environmental need for this shift since the livestock sector is responsible for about 20% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has stated that the livestock sector is a significant contributor to climate change.
The water footprint of any animal-based product is bigger than the water footprint of plant-based products with an equal nutritional value. In comparison to the different varieties of plant milk, cow’s milk has the biggest environmental impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and land and water use. For example, one litre of cow’s milk requires more than 22 times more water and roughly 12 times more land, and emits three times more greenhouse gas emissions than one litre of soya milk.
ProVeg International calls upon the European Commission and its Member States to include plant-based options in the EU school milk scheme, both in the scope of eligible products and in the educational measures.
Read full responseMeeting with Janusz Wojciechowski (Commissioner) and
26 Oct 2021 · Review of the EU agricultural promotion policy
Response to Sustainable food system – setting up an EU framework
25 Oct 2021
ProVeg International welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the Inception Impact Assessment (IIA) on a sustainable EU food system initiative.
Moving towards more sustainable food systems is a vital requirement in the face of the climate crisis. The Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy is an important first step towards achieving Europe's climate targets under the European Green Deal – ensuring that sustainability is a core pillar of EU food policy is the only way forward.
On a global scale, our food system accounts for about at third of emissions. The production and consumption of animal-based products are among the main sources of emissions from the food system and account for at least 14.5% of global emissions. On the EU level, 30% of greenhouse gases are attributable to the food system and an estimated 17% just to livestock production.
ProVeg International calls upon the Commission to consider the following when developing a sustainable European Food System framework:
1. Set maximum-intake figures for animal-based products in order to reduce the overconsumption of animal-based products, in line with the Farm to Fork Strategy. (See the reduction targets in Annex I needed to hit EU climate targets).
2. Incentivise increased consumption of more plant-rich diets.
3. Incentivise the production of sustainable food.
For further explanation and data, please see the document attached.
Read full responseResponse to Review of the EU school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme - EU aid
21 Jul 2021
ProVeg International calls on the European Commission and Member States to review the EU School Scheme rules with a view to integrating plant-based foods among eligible products and reinforcing the EU standards for food equity and education for children across Europe.
Read full response9 Mar 2021
ProVeg welcomes the Commission’s aim to undertake a review of the agricultural promotion policy “with a view to enhancing its contribution to sustainable production and consumption, and in line with the shift to a more plant-based diet, with less red and processed meat and more fruit and vegetables”.
We urge the Commission to promote the shift to plant proteins and to empower the public to make healthy and sustainable food choices. As such, we support a combination of policy options 2 and 3. Furthermore, we would like to highlight that policy option 1, which states that ‘the current policy would largely remain as it is’, is not a realistic option if the promotion scheme is to be in line with the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy.
Policy Option 2:
We agree with the Commission that the review of the EU agricultural promotion policy (Regulation 1144/2014) needs to be assessed in line with the Farm to Fork Strategy and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. In this context, the review should lead to projects being evaluated based on an impact assessment which takes into account the fact that the production of meat and dairy products is a leading cause of climate change and biodiversity loss and poses severe threats to human health.
The guiding principle of policy option 2 should therefore be that it ‘needs to support the public interest’ and thus promote foods that lead to sustainable lifestyles. It should certainly not support sectors that do otherwise, harming Europe’s public health and environment. We therefore propose zero-to-low carbon footprint, zero-to-low biodiversity loss and improving human health as three leading and mandatory requirements to apply for the promotion scheme.
Policy Option 3:
We are delighted with the Commission’s aim to review the current agricultural promotion policy in order to align it with the shift to a more plant-based diet. However, such shifts can only be achieved if the plant-based sector receives sufficient support to grow and to produce alternatives that can adequately mimic the texture, taste, and price of conventional meat and dairy products. In this light, it will be of key importance to amend Regulation 1144/2014 to extend the list of eligible products and schemes to include (processed) plant-based alternatives such as veggie burgers, veggie sausages, and almond milk; to ensure that organisations active in the plant-based sector can qualify as ‘proposing organisations’ and for applicants to be required to demonstrate that their campaign will support the Farm to Fork Strategy, following the three impact criteria mentioned under policy option 2.
In addition, we call on the Commission to consider the scientific consensus on the adverse impact of meat and dairy on climate change, biodiversity loss, and human health. The conditionality requirements and eligibility criteria should be updated in such a way that promotional funding will no longer be provided for products such as meat and dairy that have such adverse impacts.
ProVeg calls on the European Commission to honour the scientific consensus on the environmental impact of meat and dairy in relation to food-related decision-making processes. It ought to prioritise the promotion of more environmentally-friendly farming practices (e.g. plant-based food production) by 1) assessing the environmental impact of eligible foods, 2) including (processed) plant-based foods as eligible products, 3) extending the list of ‘proposing organisations’, and 4) significantly reducing the promotion of meat and dairy. In this way, the Commission will ensure that the overall goal of the promotion scheme is in line with the public interest, empowering the public to make healthy and sustainable food choices as described in its Farm to Fork strategy.
Please find more background and details attached.
Read full response