EU Protein Plan Targets More Plant-Based Options To Feed Farm Animals

The European Commission has introduced a Protein Action Plan that promotes plant-based proteins for livestock animals in an effort to reduce the EU's reliance on imported proteins. The plan focuses on resilience, competitiveness, sustainability, equity, and excellence within EU livestock production. While the plan acknowledges the need to produce more plant proteins domestically, it still emphasizes animal agriculture, which is inefficient and harmful to the environment and human health.

Both Eurogroup for Animals and ProVeg have welcomed aspects of the plan but called for more emphasis on plant foods for human consumption. The EU currently uses more plant protein for animal feed than for human consumption, creating a dependency that could be addressed by increasing human consumption of plant proteins. A report found that increasing fava bean consumption could have significant economic and environmental benefits for the EU, highlighting the potential of plant-based proteins to address current challenges in the protein supply chain.