Connect with us

Diet

MEPs call for EU food strategy to promote plant-rich diets

SHARE:

Published

on

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Two powerful European Parliament committees called on the European Commission to promote healthy plant-rich diets as part of a sustainable EU food strategy. The NGO Compassion in World Farming EU welcomes this call, as ambitious measures are needed in order to improve our food systems for the benefit of people, animals and the planet.

The Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee and the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee adopted a joint position on the European Commission’s food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy for a ‘fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system’.

A “population-wide shift in consumption patterns is needed,” such as “increased consumption of […] plant-based foods”, stressed the two Committees, highlighting the need to address the “overconsumption of meat” and other unhealthy products for the benefit of our health, the environment and animal welfare (Paragraph 20).

Indeed, 20 meat and dairy firms emit more greenhouse gas than Germany, Britain or France, as highlighted earlier this week by a new report by Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Friends of the Earth Europe and Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz. Scientists emphasize that urgent action to promote plant-rich diets is essential to ensure planetary and human health. This will also help reduce the immense number of animals used in farming, due to the current intensive agricultural system.

The report, which will be voted on by the full Parliament later in the year, also calls on the Commission to put forward legislation phasing out the use of cages for farmed animals (Paragraph 5 a). This echoes the call of the successful End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative, which has garnered 1.4 million verified signatures from people in all EU member states, as well as an earlier resolution by the EU Parliament on the issue and a commitment by the European Commission to turn this call into reality.

The report also emphasises the necessity for higher standards for fish. It calls on the Commission and the member states to improve fish welfare, in particular by supporting better “methods of capture, landing, transport and slaughter of fish and marine invertebrates” (Paragraph 10).

Head of Compassion in World Farming EU Olga Kikou said: “I strongly welcome the call by these two important committees for the need to transition to more plant-rich diets, as well as to improve animal welfare. There is, of course, room for improvement in the MEPs’ demands, as higher ambition is needed. Nonetheless, MEPs and the European Commission are already looking for solutions in the right direction. We will be vigilant in ensuring that the follow-up actions are bold and timely. The seeds for a better future are already there – now it’s a matter of ensuring they come to fruition.”

Advertisement

The Farm to Fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system is a central pillar of the European Green Deal, which sets out how to make Europe carbon-neutral by 2050. The strategy seeks to accelerate the transition to a sustainable food system that would bring environmental, health, social and economic benefits. Recognizing that better animal welfare improves animal health and food quality, the Commission commits in the strategy to revise the body of EU animal welfare legislation with the ultimate aim of ensuring a higher level of animal welfare.

For over 50 years, Compassion in World Farming has campaigned for farm animal welfare and sustainable food and farming. With over one million supporters, we have representatives in 11 European countries, the US, China and South Africa.

Photos and videos of farmed animals can be found here.

Share this article:

EU Reporter publishes articles from a variety of outside sources which express a wide range of viewpoints. The positions taken in these articles are not necessarily those of EU Reporter.

Trending