Starting August 19, 2029, the EU's new regulations governing designations for meat and meat products will formally apply. The rules will not only impact European food businesses, but also mandate a comprehensive compliance review for imported goods, including vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and meat-substitute products from Vietnam…

According to information from the Foreign Market Development Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the European Union (EU) has recently issued Regulation (EU) 2026/1739, introducing supplementary provisions on the use of terms associated with meat and meat products. This regulatory shift requires early heed from Vietnamese enterprises currently exporting or planning to ship plant-based foods into the EU market.

31 TERMS RESERVED EXCLUSIVELY FOR MEAT AND MEAT PRODUCTS

The Regulation was enacted on July 8, 2026, published on July 29, 2026, and entered into force on August 18, 2026. However, the specific new provisions on designations for meat and meat products under Article 1(13) will apply from August 19, 2029.

This grants businesses a runway of nearly three years to audit product portfolios, packaging, labels, and commercial marketing channels before the new mandates take effect.

Specifically, the new regulation incorporates Part Ia – “Meat and meat products designations” into Annex VII of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013. Under this framework, “meat” is defined as edible parts of animals covered by the Regulation. Notably, alongside the word “meat,” the EU reserves a closed list of 31 terms strictly for meat and meat products across all marketing stages.

The list comprises: beef, veal, pork, poultry, chicken, turkey, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, ovine, goat, drumstick, tenderloin, sirloin, flank, loin, ribs, shoulder, shank, chop, wing, breast, thigh, brisket, ribeye, T-bone, rump, bacon, steak, and liver.

The regulation also explicitly stipulates that these designations must not be used to describe foodstuffs falling under exclusions, including substitute products that fail to satisfy the prerequisites for using meat-reserved denominations.

For Vietnamese enterprises, a critical concern is that numerous product naming conventions commonly used across international trade directly intersect with these reserved terms.

Designations such as “vegan chicken,” “vegetarian beef,” “plant-based pork,” “vegan bacon,” “plant-based steak,” or “vegetarian ribs” will require thorough operational reviews before the enforcement deadline.

Crucially, in principle, appending qualifiers like “vegan,” “vegetarian,” or “plant-based” does not automatically exempt a product from the compliance requirements attached to terms reserved exclusively for meat and meat products.

Consequently, businesses should not treat compliance as merely swapping a single word on packaging, but must systematically re-evaluate overall product nomenclature and presentation for the EU market.

APPLICABLE TO IMPORTS INTO THE EU

The regulatory perimeter extends well beyond domestic EU food processors. Because the designation rules apply to all merchandise placed on the EU market, Vietnamese exporters handling covered product lines must fully account for these standards.

The transitional provisions of Regulation (EU) 2026/1739 explicitly encompass products “imported into the Union.”

For Nordic markets that are EU member states—Sweden, Denmark, and Latvia—the regulation will be directly applicable. Meanwhile, for Norway and Iceland, businesses must independently verify destination-specific market regulations prior to shipment.

Securing preferential tariff treatment under the EU–Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) does not exempt goods from non-tariff statutory obligations concerning commercial naming, labeling, and market entry conditions in the EU.

The enterprise segment warranting heightened vigilance includes producers and exporters of vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based items, meat alternatives, and processed foods that utilize names, visual branding, or descriptions referencing the protected meats and anatomical cuts.

This category holds substantial growth potential across the Nordics and the broader EU as consumer appetite for plant-based foods and alternative proteins continues to expand.

According to recommendations from the Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden (concurrently accredited to Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and Latvia), enterprises must audit not only product names on primary packaging, but their entire branding and sales apparatus.

Review scopes should encompass product titles and primary labels; supplementary labels in English or the national language of the destination market; outer packaging; sales catalogues and marketing collateral; websites; e-commerce listings; advertising copy; introductory pitch dossiers for importers, distributors, and supermarket buyers; as well as registered trademarks or brand lines containing protected terms.

For products such as instant noodles, seasonings, snacks, sauces, and processed foods utilizing terms like “beef,” “chicken,” or “pork” to describe flavoring profiles, businesses should closely track EU administrative guidelines and consult directly with importers. Flavor descriptors remain separately governed by broader EU directives on food information and food flavorings.

PREPARATION WINDOW REMAINS OPEN, BUT BUSINESSES SHOULD NOT WAIT UNTIL 2029

The new rules take effect on August 19, 2029. Under Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2026/1739, non-compliant products that were manufactured in the EU or imported into the EU prior to this date may continue to be marketed until existing inventory is exhausted or until August 19, 2032, whichever occurs first.

For Vietnamese exporters, a critical operational detail is that the transitional cutoff anchors to the date goods are officially imported into the EU, rather than the manufacturing date in Vietnam.

The EU has also empowered the European Commission to adopt delegated acts authorizing exceptions for select reserved meat denominations where the true nature of the foodstuff is customary and clearly understood through long-standing use, carrying no risk of misleading consumers.

Accordingly, between now and 2029, Vietnamese businesses trading in meat-related and substitute products should proactively review product portfolios and labeling strategies, while tracking detailed implementing guidelines and potential exceptions issued by the European Commission.

For enterprises targeting the Nordics and the wider EU, early adjustments will mitigate the operational friction of last-minute packaging redesigns and avert costly recalls once goods are already in distribution pipelines with non-compliant trade designations.

Source: VnEconomy