Leading meat trade and farming organisations have voiced their outrage at the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) decision to support #meatfreeweek by posting a tweet endorsing the campaign, which is running from 1st to 8th August.
A tweet reading “It’s #meatfreeweek – eat less, care more and feel good – are you up for the challenge” was posted on the FSA’s twitter account on 3rd August.
A joint statement issued by the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) on behalf of the National Farmers Union, the National Sheep Association, the British Meat Processors Association, the British Poultry Council and the National Federation of Meat & Food Traders said: “The Food Standards Agency has again overstepped its mark as a non-ministerial government department by actively promoting the campaign #meatfreeweek.
“Its role is not that of lobbyist but to use its expertise and influence so that people can trust that the food they buy and eat is safe and honest. At no point should it be actively influencing people to make a particular dietary choice.”
FSA later removed the tweet from its social media site.
In a statement the organisation said: "We use our social media channels to flag up many food-related initiatives that consumers might be interested in, helping consumers make choices that are right for them.
"Our recent Food Safety Week campaign, for example, focused particularly on meat and eggs and how to make the most of them safely, wasting less. Our upcoming barbecue campaign will focus on cooking burgers safely at home.
"We continue to support government advice on healthy eating and a balanced diet. NHS Choices advise that people who eat a lot of red and processed meat a day (more than 90g cooked weight) cut down to 70g. On this occasion the wording of the tweet was not appropriate and did not properly reflect our position, so we have removed the message."
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
