Speaking at a meeting of the House of Lords’ Environment and Climate Change Committee, Defra secretary George Eustice MP said that it was “depressing” when people “simplify the argument” surrounding meat consumption to “livestock are bad, therefore eat less meat.”
The committee’s topic of discussion centred around government response to tackle climate change.
When asked by Baroness Rosie Boycott about the messaging from the government on reducing meat consumption, Eustice said: “The debate around meat consumption is more nuanced than people would see at first sight.”
He argued that the advice on meat intake was varied but that “the general consensus” is about moderating the amount of meat that people intake, and about improving the quality of the meat consumed.
He added: "We are ultimately omnivores. In our natural state, we will have meat and animal products and proteins as part of our diet. That’s the natural state of us as a species. But of course, some people will choose to be herbivores and that’s a choice that they can take."
Tackling public perceptions
As part of the hearing, the Duke of Wellington told Eustice that the message about the potential environment benefits of meat consumption “is not getting through to the public.”
He said: “The public is being told ‘meat eating is bad, reduce your meat consumption’, that’s the simple message that’s being given, and I really do think it would be sensible and environmentally advantageous to try and educate the public in the different types of meat."
Eustice replied: "We’re very explicit in saying that from an environmental perspective we’re not telling people that they shouldn’t eat meat."
"If we could do something about the diet of the ruminants rather than lecturing people about eating less meat … it’s probably a better way to tackle the challenge."
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.
