An East Riding councillor has taken a stand against meat free menus in schools, stating that “we should not be forcing meat eaters to not eat meat”.
East Riding of Yorkshire councillor Leo Hammond revealed that he would be bringing a motion to full council to stop schools from participating in Meat Free Mondays and “forcing students not to eat meat”.
Meat Free Mondays, a campaign set up by Paul McCartney and his daughters Mary and Stella, encourages people across the world to skip meat for one day a week to in an effort to “reduce the environmental impact of meat and dairy”.
“I’m bringing a motion to full council, where I’m going to bring this nonsense to an end.”
Councillor Leo Hammond, East Riding
In a video posted to Facebook, councillor Leo Hammond stated: “Sadly, we’ve now got a national campaign pushing to remove meat from our school dinners, and to my absolute horror I found out that East Riding Council is enabling that to happen and enabling schools to force our young people not to eat meat.
“Meat Free Mondays, meat free menus, climate change meat free menus; forcing them not to eat meat without allowing parents, guardians and the students themselves to choose.
“I believe in a free society; I believe in the right of choice. We should have menus in all of our schools that give five days of either vegetarian options or meat options, and parents and students get to decide. We should not be forcing meat eaters to not eat meat, and of course we shouldn’t be forcing vegetarians to eat meat either.
“I’m bringing a motion to full council, where I’m going to bring this nonsense to an end.”
Hammond went on to say that he would be campaigning to create a local food strategy, encouraging the council to buy local food where possible.
A note on the East Riding council website states: “East Riding Schools offer a daily lunch menu. Schools are ideal places to encourage children to eat healthier options. In the East Riding we have a number of policies to ensure that all of our food is safe, nutritious and wholesome. Where possible our dishes are freshly prepared using quality ingredients, providing a healthy and tempting menu that meets current Government guidelines.”
