Denmark can use the EU presidency to push for a plant action plan for the EU that ensures greater diversity in the proteins on the plate, provides greater security of supply, health and growth potential for the EU.

On 1 July, Denmark took over the role of EU Council of Ministers, and with that comes the opportunity to set the agenda for EU negotiations in the autumn. The Danish presidency has already highlighted an EU action plan for plant-based foods and a general EU protein strategy as areas of focus to work on. forAnd it makes good sense that, as part of the EU's protein strategy, an action plan for plant-based foods is being developed.

According to a study published in nature food In 2024, an average European will eat 82 grams of protein per day, of which 49 grams come from animal sources and 33 grams come from plants. This means that we are eating too much protein compared to the recommendations of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which recommends an average protein intake of 46 grams per person per day. But it also means that there is potential in ensuring greater variation in where we get our protein from.

Today, the production of meat and dairy products is dependent on a large import of feed from, among other things, rainforest areas in Brazil. This places Europe in a vulnerable position in terms of supply security when we look into a future with trade wars and conflicts that could limit the possibility of large imports of feed and could affect the prices of feed. If instead the focus is on developing an agricultural system within planetary boundaries that is self-sufficient in feed in Europe, it will benefit both security of supply, the climate and the environmental impact of animal food production. However, as part of the EU's protein strategy, an action plan for plant-based foods should also be drawn up. There are many opportunities in increasing the diversity of the EU's production of proteins for humans. This is about using more plant proteins, e.g. legumes, in our food and developing new types of plant products with improved taste and consistency, e.g. through fermentation with fungal spores.

There may also be opportunities in being able to produce proteins in completely new ways, for example milk protein produced by bacteria in a tank, or beef grown in a laboratory without ever having seen a cow. However, none of these innovations can stand alone. It is necessary to bring a wide range of solutions into play to benefit security of supply, animal welfare, climate and health.

It is not an easy political environment for the Danish Presidency to navigate, as plant proteins and alternative ways of producing proteins repeatedly meet resistance from EU member states. But that does not make it any less important to stand firm on the opportunities that may arise by opening up the possibilities of proteins from many different sources, and ensuring a greater degree of protein self-sufficiency in the EU.

Plant-based products and alternative proteins also do not have the same competitive conditions as animal products, which have received support for most parts of the process for a number of years. The problem is that animal production is still favoured in the support schemes for agriculture, for example with coupled support for livestock under agricultural support and the EU's sales promotion scheme, which still finances meat advertising. This distortion must be addressed in an action plan for plant-based foods.

But what could this look like in practice? Shortly before the summer holidays, around 70 organisations jointly published a bid for, what the EU action plan for plant-based foods should look like. If we are to future-proof Europe's food system, we need to invest in the production, processing and market development of plant-based food proteins and expand the range of proteins on our plates. This requires:

• Farmers are rewarded for healthy crop rotations with good environmental results, including, for example, organic and agro-ecological production
• Investments are being made in building value chains for the plant-based sector, including processing, product innovation, research and export potential.
• The demand for plant-based foods is increased by, among other things, using public procurement muscle to ensure healthy and green food in public procurement.

Denmark now has a historic opportunity to drive a food transition across Europe. We hope the Danish Presidency will use its voice to ensure that EU food policy reflects the needs of the future and not the habits of the past.

This debate was published in the Althing on August 25, 2025 and was written by:

Trine Langhede, Advisor for Food and Bioresources at the Green Transition Denmark, Louise Johansen, Program Manager at the Danish Vegetarian Association, Sophie Hastrup Christensen, Chief Agricultural Policy Consultant at the Danish Animal Protection Association, Frederik Madsen, Chief Consultant in the Plant Industry, Christian Fromberg, Campaign Manager for Agriculture, Forestry and Nature in Greenpeace, Mette Gervin Damsgaard, Political Manager in World Animal Protection, Anna Bak Jäpelt, Agricultural Policy Advisor in the Danish Nature Conservation Association and Sybille Kyed, Agricultural and Food Policy Manager in the Organic National Association and Christina Ihler, Communications Manager in the Climate Movement