HCC warns of ‘damaging’ meat messages
Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC) has warned that reports such as the recent EAT-Lancet publication on food and the planet risk giving a false picture of the choices facing the world.
HCC chair Kevin Roberts.
HCC believes the report is obscuring the positive story of sustainability that Welsh red meat has to tell.
Responding to coverage of the EAT-Lancet Commission report, HCC’s chairman, Kevin Roberts, stressed that global figures on the impact of meat production ignore the reality on the ground in Wales, where 89% of the agricultural land is grassland and sheep.
Roberts said: “The EAT Lancet report says we need to consider the environmental consequences of feeding 10 billion people worldwide. But in thinking what this means practically, we have to consider several important factors.
“Industry, transport and current methods of producing energy contribute far more harm to the environment than agriculture. Also, not all agricultural systems are the same.
“Producing food the ‘Welsh Way’ – through low-intensity, grass-based husbandry – helps to capture carbon from the environment, demands very little grain-based feed, and consumes next to no water resources compared to many global systems that are cited as environmentally damaging.”
He added: “Health experts also warn against reducing meat consumption too far. Red meat is an excellent source of vital nutrients; we must have a balance and a common-sense approach.”
Leading public health nutritionist Dr. Zoë Harcombe has carried out an initial analysis of the impact of the EAT suggested diet, and found potential nutrient deficiencies.
She said: “Comparing a reference diet in the report with authoritative US diet recommendations, the EAT diet provides just 5% of vitamin D recommended, 17% of vitamin A (retinol) and just 55% of the calcium recommendation.
“There are also likely to be deficiencies in intakes of Omega-3, and nutrients that are found abundantly in red meat, such as haem iron and Vitamin B12.”
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