EU lawmakers approved the legal proposal with 355 votes in favour and 247 against during a plenary session in Strasbourg.

The text still needs to be negotiated with the bloc's 27 member states before it can become law.

Concerns over animal welfare and greenhouse gas emissions from livestock farms have driven more Europeans towards vegetarian and vegan diets, advocated as a healthier alternative to regular meat consumption.

But many European livestock farmers -- and the politicians who represent them -- see plant-based foods that mimic meat products as one more threat to an already-troubled sector.

"Let's call a spade a spade," Celine Imart, the right-wing French lawmaker who sponsored the amendment, told AFP before the vote.

"It's everyone's right to eat alternative proteins -- made from plants, laboratories, tofu or insect flour," said Imart, who besides her work in parliament farms cereals on the side.

"But calling it 'meat' is misleading for the consumer."

Under her proposal, a list of labels including "sausage" and "burger" would be reserved for foods containing meat.

The idea was opposed by the Greens and lawmakers on the left as well as key food industry voices in Germany, Europe's largest market for plant-based alternative products.

It also caused some division in the centre-right, with the head of Imart's own EPP group saying the ban was "not at all a priority".

But the amendment, which had strong support from France's livestock and meat industry body, passed nevertheless with a comfortable majority.