On 10th January 2025, a group of more than 40 environmental, health, dietary and animal protection organisations sent a letter to the UK Government asking to stop the Let’s Eat Balanced campaign promoting meat and dairy being run by a government-sponsored agency this January.
Among those signing the letter are Dale Vince OBE, Chris Packham, Greenpeace, Plant-Based Health Professionals UK, Caroline Lucas, Dr Amir Khan, the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change, Compassion in World Farming, and Professor Hugh Montgomery, co-chair of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change.
The letter reads, “Our organisations are writing to you today to urge the Government to end the ongoing consumer campaign to increase the consumption of meat and dairy run by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). The Let’s Eat Balanced campaign flies in the face of the government’s own public health and sustainability goals, and demonstrates that the AHDB is not currently fit for purpose. 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.”
The letter reveals new research from the Vegan Society which has found that only 29% of respondents in a representative nationwide poll could correctly identify the daily limit of 70g of red and processed meat recommended in official dietary guidance, the Eatwell Guide. Of those who said they understood the guidance, only 35% correctly identified the 70g limit.
Vegan Environmentalist Dale Vince said in a statement, “This new research shows clearly that most people don’t understand the dangers of eating meat. So, it seems pretty crazy for a government-sponsored body to be promoting meat and dairy when actually the country needs to be informed of the risks and encouraged to eat plant based foods instead. This is a serious breach of the government’s responsibility to give proper health advice when it comes to food – rather than allowing an official agency to advertise foods that we urgently need to reduce consumption of, for the health of people and planet.”
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