10 | The Grocer | 17 August 2019 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk
analysis meat
Reporting of an IPCC study into meat production focused on the
negative. Can the industry work to construct a positive narrative?
T
he meat industry was
back in the ring
line last week a er a
report by a group of UN scien-
tists linked livestock and dairy
production to climate change.
Some 25% to 30% of global
greenhouse gas emissions
come from the food system,
according to the report by the
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change, which sug-
gested eating less meat could
help reduce those emissions.
The study also stressed meat
consumption was an impor-
tant part of a balanced diet, but
that message was largely lost in
How will meat sector ght
back against latest attacks?
the ensuing media headlines,
which called on people to aban-
don meat and adopt plant-based
diets to save the planet.
This led to a furious mud-
slinging match on Twitter, with
NFU president Minette Batters
accusing national journalists
and news organisations of hav-
ing a ‘deeply awed approach’
to reporting on climate change.
‘I won’t stand by and watch
farmers be bullied by a metro-
politan elite that is too idle or
too ignorant to face up to the
fact that just focusing on meat
eating alone doesn’t tackle cli-
mate change,’ she wrote.
It was the strongest reac-
tion yet from the farming lobbyHenry Sandercock and marked a distinct shi
away from its usually defensive
approach. So is this the begin-
ning of a more robust ghtback
from the meat industry? And
does it have a credible defence?
Until now, the UK meat indus-
try has been fairly cautious in
responding to allegations that
it is driving climate change,
admits Cranswick’s group com-
mercial director Jim Brisby.
“I think what happens is that
these reports come out and the
industry tends to be on the back
foot,” he adds. “It comes across
as being very defensive.”
But with a series of studies
linking global meat produc-
tion to climate change – and
What the IPCC report says→ Cattle are responsible for
producing 65% to 77% of
global livestock emissions
→ Livestock in low and middle-
income countries contribute
70% of the emissions from
ruminants
→ Red meat is one of the most
ine cient products in terms
of emissions per kilogram of
protein produced
→ Emissions per unit produced
have declined globally and are
about 60% lower today than
in the 1960s
→ Soils contain about 1.
times more carbon than the
atmosphere