New report calling for reduction in red meat for environmental gain ‘potentially flawed’

“In some contexts, animal farming is important to nutrition and the ecosystem and the benefits and risks of animal farming should be considered on a case-by-case basis.”

But experts in the industry raised concern its recommendations of only 7g of red meat per day was at odds with the national suggestion of 70g.

Will Jackson, AHDB’s strategy director for beef and lamb, said the report was ‘potentially flawed’ in its thinking on how people could reduce their impact on the environment, with a reliance on plant-based proteins requiring more produce to be imported, often produced to lower environmental standards.

He said: “Despite the modelling presented by the EAT-Lancet Commission, no study has specifically assessed the environmental impact of diets based solely – or largely – on plant-based protein, as opposed to a mixed diet containing animal protein.

Environment

“Naturally occurring rain makes grass grow which cattle consume and convert into protein that humans can eat. It is a completely natural cycle that has been running for thousands of years in tune with, and complementary to, our natural environment”.

Mr Jackson said he worried that because the report was well backed financially and launched across the globe ‘with little acknowledgement of regional differences’, ‘it would be taken at face value by people in the UK who may then put their health at risk and even worsen their personal carbon footprint’.

The NFU also highlighted the importance of a need to re-evaluate the report while ‘[looking] through a local lens’.

Professor Nigel Scollan, director of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University, Belfast, welcomed the report for its admission an omnivorous diet was ‘optimal’ but said too much emphasis on demonising animal-based foods was distracting from ‘more harmful environmental factors such as the carbon monoxide produced by cars or by carbonised energy production’.

Kate Rowell, chairlady of Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) agreed, adding: “Our industry produces quality beef and lamb from the grass and rough grazing which make up around 80 per cent of Scotland’s agricultural land and could not be used for cereal, fruit or vegetable production.”

The Soil Association however said the report made ‘game-changing recommendations’ in shattering the myth that agro-ecological farming could not feed the world.

Sustainable Food Trust chief executive Patrick Holden added: “The failure to make a stronger recommendation in relation to reducing poultry meat consumption is misguided.

“We recognise that meat consumption overall needs to be reduced, but poultry are in direct competition with humans for grain. ”