Environment agency forced to delete tweet urging citizens to ‘eat less red meat’ after farmer uproar

The EPA recently retracted its post urging consumers to eat less red meat – despite overwhelming evidence supporting its claim…

Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has riled farmers after urging consumers to eat less red meat.

On Twitter, EPA also encouraged people to ‘try veggie recipes’ as well as initiatives like Meat Free Mondays.

It also stated how 10 percent of the meat consumers purchase ends up going to waste.

The tweet was posted along with an image of actor Kim Cattrall’s recent cameo in And Just Like That… captioned: : “The planet when you reduce your meat intake.”

Farmer uproar

However, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) slammed the tweet and submitted a formal complaint.

The body claims it had caused ‘considerable anger amongst farmers’ and says the post is ‘not consistent with Government dietary guidelines’.

As a result, the EPA deleted the tweet and said it would ‘welcome the opportunity to meet with the IFA’.

So, should we eat less red meat?

Despite the furore from the IFA, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that shows how environmentally damaging animal agriculture is.

Just last month, experts issued a stark warning for the UK to cut down its meat consumption if it wants to meet its climate targets.

Published in Nature, the study linked dietary data from a sample of 55,504 vegans, vegetarians, fish-eaters and meat-eaters.

38,000 farms in 119 countries were also analysed, to include variables for food production and sourcing, which many previous studies failed to factor in. It has been described as the ‘most comprehensive analysis to date’.

Researchers found plant-based diets caused 75 percent less greenhouse gas emissions and land use compared to diets featuring 100g of meat a day.

Vegan diets also slashed wildlife destruction by a staggering 66 percent, and water usage by 54 percent.

At least 30 percent differences were found between low and high meat-eaters for most indicators.

Oxford University Professor and lead author Peter Scarborough said: “Our dietary choices have a big impact on the planet…

“High meat diets have the biggest impact for many important environmental indicators, including climate change and biodiversity loss.

“Cutting down the amount of meat and dairy in your diet can make a big difference to your dietary footprint.”

Still not convinced? Check out just how agriculture and food production contribute to greenhouse gas emissions

Featured photo © mikeuk via Getty Images