Bye bye MEAT! How will the post-meat future look?

[butcher]

Some old bones for the sausage and burger brigade to pick over.

Ex-officials at UN farming body say work on methane emissions was censored

Pressure from agriculture lobbies led to role of cattle in rising global temperatures being underplayed by FAO, claim sources

www.theguardian.com

Ahhh, the Gruaniad favoured rag of the tofu and keeenwa brigade. Nothing like a bit of name calling for reasoned debate.

 

[Funky_monks]

Some old bones for the sausage and burger brigade to pick over.

Ex-officials at UN farming body say work on methane emissions was censored

Pressure from agriculture lobbies led to role of cattle in rising global temperatures being underplayed by FAO, claim sources

www.theguardian.com

Some serious whinging there.

They were so censored by the FAO that the FAO published their 319 page booklet "Livestock's Long Shadow" in 2006.

If publishing a small book on your behalf isn't censorship, I don't know what is.....

The fact that it is mostly conjecture is neither here nor there. Also their whinging about modelling is hilarious, given that most of their anti-livestock argument is based on modelling - we still can't measure methane from livestock properly and we certainly can't measure it effectively whilst they are at pasture, which is where most ruminants spend most of their time.

 

[editor]

Some old bones for the sausage and burger brigade to pick over.

Ex-officials at UN farming body say work on methane emissions was censored

Pressure from agriculture lobbies led to role of cattle in rising global temperatures being underplayed by FAO, claim sources

www.theguardian.com

The meat industry lobby should face criminal charges for their lies and disinformation.

Former officials in the UN’s farming wing have said they were censored, sabotaged, undermined and victimised for more than a decade after they wrote about the hugely damaging contribution of methane emissions from livestock to global heating.

Team members at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) tasked with estimating cattle’s contribution to soaring temperatures said that pressure from farm-friendly funding states was felt throughout the FAO’s Rome headquarters and coincided with attempts by FAO leadership to muzzle their work.


The allegations date back to the years after 2006, when some of the officials who spoke exclusively to the Guardian on condition of anonymity wrote Livestock’s Long Shadow (LLS), a landmark report that pushed farm emissions on to the climate agenda for the first time. LLS included the first tally of the meat and dairy sector’s ecological cost, attributing 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions to livestock, mostly cattle. It shocked an industry that had long seen the FAO as a reliable ally – and spurred an internal clampdown by FAO hierarchy, according to the officials.

Scientists also expressed concern about the way the FAO’s estimate of livestock’s overall contribution to emissions is continuing to fall. The 18% number that was published in 2006 was revised downwards to 14.5% in a follow-up paper, Tackling Climate Change Emissions in 2013. It is currently being assessed at about 11.2% based on a new “Gleam 3.0” model.

But many scientists plot farm emissions on a very different trajectory. One recent study concluded that greenhouse gas emissions from animal products made up 20% of the global total and a 2021 study found that the figure should be between 16.5% and 28.1%.

 

[editor]

Ahhh, the Gruaniad favoured rag of the tofu and keeenwa brigade. Nothing like a bit of name calling for reasoned debate.

Not sure what a tofu brigade is but on what grounds are you dismissing the findings of their investigation?

 

[bcuster]

Not sure what a tofu brigade is but on what grounds are you dismissing the findings of their investigation?

People who like tofu? I’m a member of that brigade. To me it’s a more humane and responsible alternative to chicken, fish or pork; all of which, if we would be honest, would admit are flavorless lumps of dead flesh

 

[bcuster]

Tofu is just as good when seasoned or marinated and sautéed or grilled…

 

[WouldBe]

People who like tofu? I’m a member of that brigade. To me it’s a more humane and responsible alternative to chicken, fish or pork; all of which, if we would be honest, would admit are flavorless lumps of dead flesh

Someone needs their taste buds checking.

 

[stavros]

Someone needs their taste buds checking.

I agree that fish definitely has a taste, but bcuster has a point with meat. I think a large part of the attraction is the texture, rather than the taste.

 

[editor]

Someone needs their taste buds checking.

If you don't think that incredibly tasty meals can be made with tofu, then it's you who need your tastebuds checked.

 

[WouldBe]

I agree that fish definitely has a taste, but bcuster has a point with meat. I think a large part of the attraction is the texture, rather than the taste.

There's definitely a taste difference between chicken and pork as well.

 

[WouldBe]

If you don't think that incredibly tasty meals can be made with tofu, then it's you who need your tastebuds checked.

I've never said that and there's nothing wrong with my taste buds. They are quite capable of telling the difference between runner beans, broad beans and french beans.

 

[Funky_monks]

Wait, some people think meat is tasteless?

WTF?

I'd have no problem distinguishing various meats blindfolded, I reckon, although squirrel tastes remarkably like partridge......

 

[Jeff Robinson]

High Court grants consent for River Action to pursue Judicial Review over Environment Agency’s failure to protect River Wye from agricultural pollution.​

Following a hearing held at the High Court in Cardiff on Thursday 19 October, environmental charity River Action has been granted consent to pursue its legal challenge against the Environment Agency (EA) over its failure to protect the River Wye from pollution.

In its case for judicial review of the Environment Agency’s enforcement of regulations, RiverAction has argued that by failing to prevent the spread of excessive levels of manure across agricultural land in the Wye river catchment, the EA has acted unlawfully by not enforcing the Farming Rules for Water.

River Action wins landmark court ruling

High Court grants consent for River Action to pursue Judicial Review over Environment Agency’s failure to protect River Wye from agricultural pollution.

river-action.prowly.com

 

[editor]

New study reveals that meat-based protein intake "exhibited the highest environmental pressures, the lowest nutritional scores and a higher health risk score."

In conclusion, the nature of protein intake is a good discriminating factor of diets sustainability.

The healthy-plant-based and healthy-fish-based clusters were the most sustainable, allowing to conciliate the trade-off between individual and environmental health. Conversely, the meat-based cluster exhibited the highest environmental pressures, the lowest nutritional scores and a higher health risk score.

Additionally, although the healthy-plant-based cluster had the highest food budget coefficient, their expenditure on protein intake was the lowest.

However, this same expenditure was high for the meat-based cluster, which is explained by both higher prices of the protein sources consumed and their higher protein intake. These results could be useful for the development of food transition strategies aimed at reducing animal protein consumption.

The nature of protein intake as a discriminating factor of diet sustainability: a multi-criteria approach - Scientific Reports

Animal production is responsible for 56–58% of the GHG emissions and limiting meat consumption would strongly contribute to reducing human health risks in Western countries. This study aimed to investigate the nature of protein intake as a discriminating factor for diets’ sustainability. Using...

www.nature.com

Cue: the usual weird denials

 

[stavros]

Wait, some people think meat is tasteless?

WTF?

I'd have no problem distinguishing various meats blindfolded, I reckon, although squirrel tastes remarkably like partridge......

I suppose what I'm saying is that the taste of the meat itself is not its dominant feature or main selling point. The taste in most dishes comes from what you have with it (seasoning, garnish, gravy, etc).

 

[UnderOpenSky]

I suppose what I'm saying is that the taste of the meat itself is not its dominant feature or main selling point. The taste in most dishes comes from what you have with it (seasoning, garnish, gravy, etc).

But not as much as tofu. Slight salt a bit of beef and it tastes great. Less so tofu (and I quite like tofu).

 

[WouldBe]

I suppose what I'm saying is that the taste of the meat itself is not its dominant feature or main selling point. The taste in most dishes comes from what you have with it (seasoning, garnish, gravy, etc).

Not heard of a roast Sunday lunch? Most people stick a lump of unadulterated meat in the oven to roast and you can still taste the difference without having to marinade or use herbs and spices. You might have some stuffing or apple sauce or horseradish sauce on the side.

 

[Funky_monks]

I suppose what I'm saying is that the taste of the meat itself is not its dominant feature or main selling point. The taste in most dishes comes from what you have with it (seasoning, garnish, gravy, etc).

You don't eat meat, I take it?

Most of the time, the meat is the star of whatever you are eating and you add stuff to compliment it.

If youd had said white carbs were flavourless, you might have a point.

 

[bcuster]

Some game meats have a strong flavor.
However, the most commonly eaten meats like supermarket cuts of pork, chicken and standard cuts of beef have no flavor; unless you add an outside flavoring agent.

 

[WouldBe]

Some game meats have a strong flavor.
However, the most commonly eaten meats like supermarket cuts of pork, chicken and standard cuts of beef have no flavor; unless you add an outside flavoring agent.

Wrong. Dead easy to taste the difference between chicken, pork and beef.

 

[Eric Jarvis]

It is increasingly looking like my meat free future would include a lot of felafel. I need to learn to make my own. Not really an ideal substitute for a bacon sarnie but one I can definitely handle now and again.

 

[philosophical]

In veganuary Lidl sold some absolutely ace beech smoked Tofu, but not since.
Can’t wait until next January for it to come round again.

 

[editor]

And still animal welfare comes a distant second to profits:

Low-welfare eggs are flooding into the UK from abroad, the Guardian can reveal, as experts warn the effects of Brexit could cause even more to be imported.

Official data reveals that between 2021 and August 2023 the number of eggs imported from Poland rose by more than 2,000%, from 46 consignments to 1,095. The number imported from Italy also increased by almost 300% between 2022 and 2023 from 72 consignments to 279, according to figures from the Animal and Plant Health Agency.


The total number of consignments imported went from 422 in 2021 to 2,120 in 2022, and has already reached 2,536 in the first eight months of 2023.

But the quality of products from these countries could be lower, experts have warned. A recent report showed that a large salmonella outbreak earlier this year was linked to Polish eggs. Concern has also been raised that post-Brexit trade deals could lead to a further decline in quality as low-welfare eggs from caged hens enter the UK.

According to the Polish ecological and animal welfare organisation Klub Gaja, about 40 million layers are now bred in Poland, with 87% of them kept in cages. The average space for each hen is slightly larger than an A4 sheet of paper.

Low-welfare eggs from caged hens imported to UK in ‘staggering’ numbers

Exclusive: Concerns grow that post-Brexit trade deals could lead to further decline in quality as battery farm eggs are reintroduced

www.theguardian.com

 

[Jeff Robinson]

And still animal welfare comes a distant second to profits:

Indeed.

"Meat lobby groups fought a “hard and dirty” war against a planned EU ban on caged hens and pigs that has now been shelved, the Guardian can reveal."

Lobby groups fought ‘hard and dirty’ against EU ban on caged farm animals

Legislation now appears to be on hold after ferocious pushback from powerful farming lobbies

www.theguardian.com

 

[editor]

Indeed.

"Meat lobby groups fought a “hard and dirty” war against a planned EU ban on caged hens and pigs that has now been shelved, the Guardian can reveal."

Lobby groups fought ‘hard and dirty’ against EU ban on caged farm animals

Legislation now appears to be on hold after ferocious pushback from powerful farming lobbies

www.theguardian.com

It's a filthy, disgusting industry.

In 2021 EU politicians took the radical step of agreeing to phase out the use of cages for rearing farmed animals, including hens, broilers, pigs, calves, rabbits and quails, after receiving a petition signed by more than a million people. The measures, which were supposed to go through by the end of 2023, have the support of 89% of European citizens, according to an EU survey released last week.


But a ferocious pushback from powerful farming lobbies, details of which have been seen by an investigation by the Guardian and a media consortium led by Lighthouse Reports, means that the legislation now appears to be on hold.

 

[editor]

Utterly shameful stuff

Animal welfare wrecked​

How an increasingly assertive meat industry helped derail a historic democratic demand to improve animal welfare standards in the EU

Nearly one and a half million EU citizens asked the EU to ban the use of cages in animal farming in 2020. The proposal was met with broad political support: the European Parliament endorsed the resolution with 558 votes in favour, 37 against, 85 abstentions. The EU Commission officially committed to follow up with a suite of regulations in 2023.

The set of four laws were supposed to end practices such as keeping farm animals in cages, slaughtering day-old chicks, and the sale and production of fur.

However, all but one have been dropped, including the ban on caged farming, from the European Commission’s 2024 work programme, even though the EU’s latest survey showed that an overwhelming majority of people desire them.

Three EU officials familiar with the file recounted aggressive lobbying by groups such as the European Livestock Voice (ELV) and its partner associations to water down parts of the laws and attack scientific opinions they felt did not align with their goals. One official said “this was the first time” in nearly a decade of experience that they had felt such pressure from a farming association

Animal welfare wrecked

How an increasingly assertive meat industry helped derail a historic democratic demand to improve animal welfare standards in the EU

www.lighthousereports.com

 

[Aquamarine]

Some serious whinging there.

They were so censored by the FAO that the FAO published their 319 page booklet "Livestock's Long Shadow" in 2006.

If publishing a small book on your behalf isn't censorship, I don't know what is.....

The fact that it is mostly conjecture is neither here nor there. Also their whinging about modelling is hilarious, given that most of their anti-livestock argument is based on modelling - we still can't measure methane from livestock properly and we certainly can't measure it effectively whilst they are at pasture, which is where most ruminants spend most of their time.

'If publishing a small book on your behalf isn't censorship, I don't know what is..... '

I think you might want to rephrase that sentence with a slightly different emphasis.

 

[Aquamarine]

Humans are rapidly saying goodbye to the stable Holocene on which agriculture relies.

In addition to the cow/climate change connection, there is new climate science comparing current atmospheric methane emissions – partly driven by surging wetland emissions - against ‘paleo-climate ice-core data’.

The science: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/.../2023GB007875

 

[butcher]

Utterly shameful stuff

Animal welfare wrecked

How an increasingly assertive meat industry helped derail a historic democratic demand to improve animal welfare standards in the EU

www.lighthousereports.com

As you are well aware, no one on this thread champions intensive farming, so apart from a life of imported tvp and tofu, what do you suggest as a way around this which acknowledges that a substantial proportion of people won't give up meat?

Buy less and better quality/ welfare? From people who have direct contact with producers and visit their farms?

Or is it my way (no meat except the occasional irresistible bacon sandwich [obviously thoroughly researched provenance]) or nothing?

 

[editor]

As you are well aware, no one on this thread champions intensive farming, so apart from a life of imported tvp and tofu, what do you suggest as a way around this which acknowledges that a substantial proportion of people won't give up meat?

Buy less and better quality/ welfare? From people who have direct contact with producers and visit their farms?

Or is it my way (no meat except the occasional irresistible bacon sandwich [obviously thoroughly researched provenance]) or nothing?

The only way around it is for people to eat less meat. It's as simple as that.

Going on and on about the relatively microscopic amount of meat that is produced (guffaw) 'humanely' is an utter irrelevance to the main argument.

Instead of people belittling more affordable and sustainable vegan/vegetarian options, they should be encouraging their adoption and cutting back on their own intake of meat, as suggested by just about every environmental study for years and years on end.

Cue: whataboutery