Prime Minister Robert Golob is facing backlash from the country’s meat industry for his comments in the EU Parliament suggesting people should eat less meat – adding to his controversial decision of reportedly appointing mostly vegans to a newly created food advisory body.
The meat industry is particularly up in arms regarding the part in his recent EU Parliament speech where he said that “each of us can start a change … Just switch from less meat – I’m not saying no meat – but consume less meat, let’s consume more plant-based food.”
This prompted the country’s Meat Industry Association to express concern on Wednesday, calling Golob’s calls to cut meat consumption “dangerous”. The association added that the trend towards healthy eating must follow common sense and the guidelines of nutritional experts.
“Layman calls – and more or less blatant lobbying – to restrict livestock farming and meat consumption are, from a variety of perspectives, at the very least harmful, if not outright dangerous,” the association said.
Golob’s statement was not the only thing that irked the industry, as the appointment this month of the Strategic Council for Nutrition which has been tasked with preparing guidance for updated national dietary guidelines, has also left a bitter taste.
Several media have reported that the advisory body does not include a single representative of farmers or the food industry, medical or veterinary experts, whereas more than half are reportedly vegans.
The Meat Industry Association said that “overly ambitious environmental targets could jeopardise” the industry’s development potential and could cause “irreparable damage to the country’s food security and self-sufficiency”.
“We see your calls to reduce meat consumption as a clear conflict of interest between the government and the Slovenian meat industry, which is trying to strike the right balance between the social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainable development,” the association said in the letter to Golob.
(Sebastijan R. Maček | sta.si)
Source: euractiv.com
