Red meat ‘unfairly targeted’ in climate change debate
Red meat is being treated as a ‘scapegoat’ for health and climate change concerns, according to an internationally renowned dietician.
Diana Rodgers RD, a ‘real food’ nutritionist and sustainability advocate, made the comments at Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales’ (HCC) annual conference.
She said red meat production was ‘misunderstood’ and ‘unfairly targeted’ due to concerns surrounding health issues and the climate crisis.
Ms Rodgers, based in Boston, Massachusetts, said this ‘propaganda was not only incredibly damaging, but wrong’.
“My approach is ‘what is the optimal diet for humans and how can we grow it in a sustainable way’,” she told delegates at the recent event.
“It’s much easier to pin our worries on something as powerful and polarising as red meat rather than tackling the world’s complex problems and tackling them in a cleverer and more nuanced way.”
She said: “There is bundled-up propaganda out there that says that meat causes cancer, heart disease, diabetes; that it’s bad for the environment; it’s unnecessary – why eat meat when we can just engineer proteins in labs? – and it is unethical; that those who are ‘more enlightened’ have moved beyond meat eating.”
by Farming UK
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