Meat industry’s worst nightmare could become a reality
By Roberto A. Ferdman, Washington Post
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is preparing to release the latest version of the government’s influential dietary guidelines this year, and there could be a major change that accelerates the trend of Americans eating less meat.
The guidelines, which are updated every five years, have traditionally advised Americans about healthy eating choices, eating choices which, until now, have only reflected what the government views as a diet that is healthy for humans. But the panel that advises the government is pushing for the recommendations to reflect what is healthy for the environment, too. Given the huge carbon footprint of meat production, making this change would almost certainly entail lowering the official, government-recommended intake of meat.
Americans, though they are eating less meat than they have in the past, are still fond of steaks, hamburgers, and chicken wings. And the environmental impact of that diet is significant. Carnivores contribute far more to environmental decay than do vegetarians. The livestock industry is responsible for an estimated 15 percent of total global carbon emissions, roughly two-thirds of which is the result of beef production. On a per kilogram basis, the carbon footprint of lamb and beef production is unparalleled.
Now the stinking government is going to try and tell us what to eat?!?! Their idiocy knows no bounds.
Kits- The American public has already given the government power to tell us what to eat. The FDA controls what you eat today unless you plant vegetables and fruit on your own land and have an “authorized” piece of property to raise your own meat. Even then the seeds you might plant have been “authorized” by the government.
So, they don’t care if your diet is healthy. As long as the environment is spared.
Just like changing the PAP smear test requirement. Drugs etc.
It is all about the money and the perceived political correctness
‘So, they don’t care if your diet is healthy.’
How did you come to that conclusion?
They are making their decision on what is healthy based on environmental issues not true dietary science.
They’ll get my chicken wings when they can pry them from my cold dead hands.
‘They are making their decision on what is healthy based on environmental issues not true dietary science’
Are you sure they aren’t also considering the environment, as well as nutrition?
Read the article again.
Big Brother lives.
I DO grow my own veggies, fruit and meat. All organic.
Do some research on all the crap(literally AND figuratively) that is allowed in Meat. Add that to the barbaric manner in which animals are housed and slaughtered, and the concentrated waste from factory farms going into rivers and acquifers …and the only conclusion a thinking individual can come to is…either hunt and fish or raise your own or go veggie. Kudos to Kits if you actually do raise your own-i still don’t like your comments but i respect you for that.
Hmmm; Thank you. I really do.
Gaspen….you do as well? I never would have guessed. But Hmmm was referring to me not you.
Hmmm Thanks for the kudos. We can agree that we disagree on things but mutual respect goes a long way.
“So, they don’t care if your diet is healthy. As long as the environment is spared.”
One would think a healthy environment leads to healthier people? I guess some people just can’t see a link?
The environment and its quality is absolutly integral to a healthy life and better quality food is part of that equation. Maybe if people stopped breeding, and all the “illegal” folks that come here for many reasons left, maybe if we stopped paving wild places so OHV hunters could get to their favorite place to shoot critters, maybe if we let cows, sheep, pigs, chickens have free range anywhere that their humans wanted them to go….you see, there are rules and laws in place for many reasons and people can still choose to eat what they want, despite the comments above saying the government controls that too. They dont. They might make recomendations based on factors, one being what effects the environment. I am glad there are rules to keep pig farms off the banks of rivers. Im glad that we have access to organically grown food and that there are options for dairy foods that dont have growth hormones. IMHO
Tools of the corn and soy bean lobby. I have diabetes and have more than doubled my meat intake and keep my carbohydrate intake under 100 grams per day.
Blood sugar went from 345 to 108 lost over thirty pounds in less than a year and took 70 points off of my total cholesterol count.
#@!*&^% Monsanto and their worthless studies.