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Naturalist and TV personality Chris Packham has voiced his support for a letter urging the UK government to withdraw its support for a meat and dairy campaign.
Organizations including The Vegan Society, Plant-Based Health Professionals UK (PBHP UK), and Feedback Global wrote to the ministers for health, energy, and the environment calling for an end to the “Let’s Eat Balanced” campaign. The letter was also signed by environmental and health experts including Packham and NHS doctor Amir Khan.
Taking to Instagram last week, Packham described Let’s Eat Balanced, run by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) as “dangerous propaganda.” The campaign encourages British people to eat more meat and dairy. It runs through January to coincide with Veganuary.
Read more: Campaigners Call for An End To Meat Advertising In The UK
Let’s Eat Balanced “flies in the face of the government’s own public health and sustainability goals,” the letter states. “Instead of promoting meat, the Government should use similar publicity campaigns to drive up the consumption of fruit, vegetables and whole foods and communicate the health and sustainability benefits of plant-based whole foods to the public.”
Representing animal farming interests
AHDB is an “arm’s length” public body, funded through its members. Since the departure of the potato and fruit and vegetable sectors, AHDB members farm animals, oilseeds, and cereals. More than half of cereals grown in the UK are used as animal feed and biofuel. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) oversees AHDB activities and appoints its board. The letter points out that contrary to its name, AHDB “is now effectively a body solely promoting the interests of the animal farming sector.”
Read more: Health Professionals Urge Government To Withdraw Meat Ads
The government’s own advisory Climate Change Committee has recommended a reduction in British meat consumption of 20 percent by 2030 and 35 percent by 2050. This is necessary to help the UK meet its legally binding emissions reduction targets. Prime Minister Keir Starmer made these targets even more ambitious at the last UN Climate Summit.
“The Government must make people aware of the recommendations to limit meat and dairy consumption and enable a just transition to profitable and sustainable agriculture in the UK,” the letter states. “Such strategies have already been implemented by other governments, including the Danish government in 2023, and the UK must follow suit.”
Not aligned with health advice
Let’s Eat Balanced makes several assertions about the apparent benefits of eating meat and dairy, including providing vitamin B12 (which can easily be supplemented on a plant-based diet). But it does not warn of the risks associated with a diet high in animal products.
“Evidence is abundant that high quantities of red and processed meat increase the risk of coronary heart disease, some forms of cancer and type 2 diabetes,” says the letter. It warns that while government dietary guidelines, the Eatwell Guide, recommend eating no more than 70g per day of red and processed meat, only 29 percent of people are aware of this.
More than a million health professionals are represented by organizations that signed the letter. As well as PBHP UK, these include the Doctors Association UK and the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change.
Read more: Veganuary Participants More Likely To Become Disgusted By Meat, Study Finds
