EU Protein Action Plan

Europe still imports a large share of the protein it feeds to animals and eats itself, leaving its food system exposed to global shocks and a handful of suppliers. Strengthening domestic, plant-based protein is therefore a matter of competitiveness and strategic autonomy.

EAPF has long argued for a plant-centric, food-focused protein policy that links production to consumption. As a member of several Civil Dialogue Groups, EAPF has helped shape the EU Protein Action Plan by giving policymakers insight into the reality of businesses active in plant-based food manufacturing.

A milestone for the sector

In July 2026 the European Commission delivered its EU Protein Action Plan, setting out a framework for scaling up sustainable plant protein production in the EU and building a more autonomous, resilient protein system. For our sector, the recognition it contains matters as much as the measures: the Plan acknowledges that plant proteins are essential to food security, strategic autonomy and competitiveness, that they deliver benefits for public health, the environment and the climate — and that plant-based foods and drinks hold the greatest market potential among alternative proteins.

The Action Plan is a milestone. The test now is ambition in delivery. A protein plan works for Europe when it channels crops toward high-value human food, not only feed; when it funds plant-based-specific research; when it creates a level playing field; and when it pairs supply measures with demand.

For farmers, that means new and more profitable markets. For businesses, a clearer path to invest and scale. For Europe, greater resilience and a stronger position in a fast-growing global market. EAPF will help turn the Action Plan into results across the value chain.

Find more on what is needed to make Europe’s food systems competitive, resilient and sustainable.

Highlights of the EU Protein Action Plan

1. Plant proteins are presented as a strategic rather than a niche. The Plan highlights the importance of plant proteins in strengthening food security, enhancing the EU’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness, and delivering benefits to public health, the environment, and the climate — a point that the EAPF has been emphasising in Brussels.

2. Plant-based foods and drinks are singled out on market potential. Among alternative proteins, the Plan identifies plant-based foods and drinks as holding the greatest market potential. That is an important signal to investors and to Member States deciding where to direct support.

3. A clear economic offer to farmers and rural communities. The Plan recognises the opportunities that expanding protein-crop and alternative-protein production creates for farmers, rural communities and generational renewal. Its recommendations to Member States include integrating protein crops into crop rotation and diversification policies, compensating farmers for the higher production costs of switching, and encouraging livestock farmers to diversify,

4. Research, innovation and processing infrastructure are treated as prerequisites. The Plan acknowledges that boosting protein-crop production and processing depends on investment in research and innovation, and on adequate processing technologies, including on-farm solutions, that add value to production and open new revenue streams for farmers.

5. Specific legislative and fiscal measures are identified. The Plan identifies the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Market Organisation, the European Competitiveness Fund, and public procurement rules as the means by which it could be delivered. It suggests establishing a dedicated protein crop sector with sectoral interventions to support investment and prioritising ‘best value’ over the lowest price in public procurement. It also invites Member States to consider introducing tax measures, which could include lower rates for plant proteins. The Plan also recognises the Danish Action Plan for Plant-Based Foods as best practice, a model that the EAPF has consistently advocated.

What still needs to follow

The Plan’s only quantified target concerns feed: raising EU production of proteins for feed from 25.8% to 35% by 2035. There is no target for balancing plant and animal protein production and consumption, and no earmarked funding for the plant-based sector. Demand-side measures remain lacking — while public procurement is mentioned, the concrete measures that would actually shift consumption towards plant protein are absent.

This matters because Europe’s import dependency is driven as much by what we eat as by what we grow. Directing protein crops toward direct human consumption avoids a conversion loss of more than 75%, which means the feed target itself becomes easier to hit as human consumption of plant protein rises.

EAPF therefore calls on the Commission and Member States to build on the Protein Action Plan with targeted measures that encourage both the production and the direct human consumption of plant protein — and to take the next logical step: an EU Action Plan for Plant-Based Foods, with dedicated funding for plant-based-specific research and innovation.