"Buy local" fever hits the UK meat market
The British Meat Processors Association has recently launched a new brand and website ( SustainableBritishMeat.org ) to explain why British meat should be the simple first choice for consumers. The campaign focuses on attributes such as sustainability, high standards of quality and support for British farming built-in. "We want this website to become the rallying point for everyone involved in producing British meat and all those involved in the scientific and technological innovation that is helping us to better understand and improve the quality, traceability and eco-friendliness of our food production," mentioned the association in a press release.
Consumers, wherever they are in the world, are increasingly concerned about the safety, standards and sustainability of the food they eat. They want to know that, whatever diet they choose to follow, their food will be safe and nourishing, but not at the expense of the planet.
Nick Allen, CEO of the British Meat Processors Association highlights the fact that: “Most people rely on information in the media to help them make their diet and lifestyle choices. But not all that information is correct. In fact, some of it is quite misleading. It’s become very difficult to navigate the confusing and often contradictory opinions, pseudo-science and genuine science in the media that are currently shaping ordinary people’s choices about what they should and shouldn’t be eating.”
Livestock is responsible for just 5.7% of methane emissions in the UK, which is much lower than the average global figure of 14% that most often gets quoted in the media but which includes environmentally un-friendly farming systems in countries like Brazil.
Giving up eating British meat will be of a much less environmental benefit than giving up eating Brazilian meat. And, substituting British meat for a more environmentally damaging processed plant-based alternative could mean that concerned consumers inadvertently create the opposite effect to the one they intended. Britain produces meat to some of the highest food and animal welfare standards and with the lowest environmental footprint on the planet.
"Consumers around the world are increasingly willing to pay a premium for this. So, we also want to use this new Sustainable British Meat website as a platform to help promote British produce, not just here in the UK but to all trading partners around the world," said the press release.
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