Red meat consumption report sparks criticism from the meat industry
The 50-page report entitled “Food in the Anthropocene” released on January 16 by the EAT-Lance Commission encourages consumers to slash their meat intake to no more than once a week and to also reduce their total beef and pork consumption by 90%. In addition, consumers should double their intake of nuts, fruits, vegetables, and legumes.
"The Commission quantitively describes a universal healthy reference diet, based on an increase in consumption of healthy foods (such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, and nuts), and a decrease in consumption of unhealthy foods (such as red meat, sugar, and refined grains) that would provide major health benefits, and also increase the likelihood of attainment of the sustainable development goals," the report stated.
The report suggests that the new dietary recommendations should be applied locally and that they should be in place by 2050 at a global level.
"Transformation to healthy diets by 2050 will require substantial dietary shifts. Global consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes will have to double, and consumption of foods such as red meat and sugar will have to be reduced by more than 50%. A diet rich in plant-based foods and with fewer animal source foods confers both improved health and environmental benefits."
The EAT-Lancet Commission brought together 19 Commissioners and 18 co-authors from 16 countries in various fields including human health, agriculture, political science and environmental sustainability.
CLITRAVI, The Liaison Centre for the Meat Processing Industry in the European Union, criticized the report saying that the debate on healthy diets should not lead to a negative categorization of meat products and consequently to dietary bans against those foodstuffs.
Moreover, CLITRAVI underlined that the European meat processing industry recognizes healthy diet and sustainable food system as priorities for the livestock sector.
But although the report recognizes the importance to focus on the whole diet rather than on a single foodstuff, CLITRAVI said that the conclusion conflicts with the purpose of the Eat-Lancet Commission as the report collects and proposes again some arguments contained in previous anti-livestock studies, also co-signed by some members of the Eat-Lancet Commission.
"The conclusions of the Eat-Lancet report on the health impact of processed meat products are based once more on inadequate evidence as well as on the extrapolation of data to causal interpretations, without taking into account that obesity and non-communicable diseases are multifactorial matters," CLITRAVI’s statement read.
CLITRAVI added that the EAT-Lancet Commission should take into account the fact that there are already contributions in place to lower any negative impact of the livestock and that meat processing companies are increasing their investments in innovation and in best available technologies with the aim to provide safe and sustainable food products.
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