Doner kebab industry says it needs to use phosphates to keep meat juicy but others argue they increase risk of heart problems

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The European parliament has narrowly defeated plans to ban an additive considered key in industrial meats for the doner kebab.

Needing an absolute majority of at least 376 votes for a ban on phosphates, the chamber was three short, voting 373 to 272, with 30 abstentions.

The decision had been keenly expected by the doner kebab industry, which says it needs phosphates to keep the frozen meat juicy, tender and tasty. Others argued that eating phosphates increased the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

“We saved your kebab. You’re welcome,” said the Christian Democrat EPP group, which argued for keeping the phosphates because it said there was no proof of negative health effects.

The Socialists and Greens led the arguments for the ban on health grounds. “This is a sad day for consumer rights, which have been trampled on,” said the Greens’ EU legislator Bart Staes.

The vote had been portrayed by some as a battle to save the kebab from EU encroachment. But if phosphates had been banned, the industry would only have looked for alternative additives for doner kebabs, which are as popular in some European cities as the hamburger is in the US.

The European Food Safety Agency is due to investigate the use of phosphates next year, which could reignite the debate.