Smoky Bacon Crisps Caught in UK-EU Food Deal Crossfire

Britain's favourite crisp flavour has walked straight into a Brussels-vs-Westminster scrap. The government is negotiating a food standards deal with the EU to cut costs for British exporters, and it could be announced at a summit later this month.

The catch: aligning with EU food rules means swallowing regulations UK politicians had no hand in writing. The EU adopted rules this summer restricting 31 meat terms — bacon, drumstick and steak among them — to products that genuinely contain meat, arguing shoppers could be confused by plant-based lookalikes. Pork, chicken and beef are covered too.

Now the European snack industry is chasing clarity on how that lands on meat-flavoured crisps, including ones made with no meat extracts at all. The UK government says the new regulations fall within scope of its proposed deal, meaning they'd apply to products marketed in Britain — one of Europe's biggest crisp markets, per analysts Euromonitor. Smoky bacon and roast chicken bags could end up relabelled.

There's breathing room. The rules don't bite until after August 2029, and the European Commission can carve out exemptions for meaty names with long-established use on other foods. Brussels hasn't said how it'll wield that power. Conservative German MEPs are also pushing a specific carve-out for snacks and sauces in separate legislation moving through the European Parliament.

On Thursday, Environment Secretary Angela Eagle told a radio presenter to 'get a life' when he pressed her on what the rules mean for snacks. It's not the first smoky bacon skirmish — the EU's 2024 decision to phase out certain artificial smoke flavourings already caused headlines — and the Conservatives and Reform UK are watching closely for ammunition on Britain being a 'rule taker'.

The Food and Drink Federation, which speaks for British crispmakers including Walkers and KP Snacks, backs the deal for its potential to knock down trade barriers. But its chief scientific officer Kate Halliwell flagged the meat protections as a rule UK businesses must follow despite having no say in shaping it, and called for government and industry to work together so UK interests reach EU decision makers.