Outrage at call to eat avocados, not cheese
Dairy industry furious that ‘unqualified’ vegan researcher given airtime on RTÉ climate special
THE dairy industry is outraged after a vegan researcher who holds no qualification in nutrition told RTÉ viewers that they should eat avocados instead of Irish cheese to reduce carbon emissions.
Dr Marco Springmann, a researcher in Oxford, appeared in the RTÉ documentary What Planet
Are You On? this week, where he recommended that people should cut down on dairy and eat avocados, peanut butter and hummus instead.
The Department of Health recommends three servings from the ‘milk, yoghurt and cheese’ food group each day as part of a healthy, balanced diet. For those aged nine to 18, five servings per day are recommended.
But Mr Springmann told the Irish Mail on Sunday that he stands over his assertions in the RTÉ programme, and he has urged Irish consumers to limit dairy to one glass of milk or two slices of cheese a day.
In a statement to the MoS, the president of the Irish Farmers’ Association, Joe Healy, has called on RTÉ to clarify the qualifications they relied upon to call Dr Springmann a ‘diet expert’.
The IFA has been unable to find any reference to a dietary or nutrition qualification on Dr Springmann’s profile.
‘It is extremely concerning that RTÉ would allow someone with no nutritional qualifications a platform to comment on the merits of eating certain foods,’ the IFA said.
‘The Department of Health food pyramid contains the appropriate dietary advice for people of various ages. This should form the basis for any dietary advice given by the national broadcaster,’ said Mr Healy.
‘RTÉ should immediately clarify
Dr Springmann’s qualifications and make a clear statement that the public should follow the advice given by the Department of Health and qualified nutritionists, not by
Dr Springmann,’ he said.
Conor Mulvihill, director with Dairy Industry Ireland, which is part of the Ibec group, told the MoS that he was outraged that these claims were let go unchallenged by the State broadcaster.
‘He has no qualification whatsoever on nutrition – zero, none. He made the outrageous claim unchallenged, which drove me mad.
‘Where he added insult to injury, he more or less said, “Put the locally produced Irish cheese away and I recommend avocados, peanut butter and hummus.” I mean, give me strength. RTÉ obviously paid him with Irish taxpayers’ money for that – that’s a scandal. I don’t want to use a Trumpism, but it was fake news.
‘People have free choice but we have to defend our products. Ireland through EU studies has the lowest carbon emissions per kilogram for milk or dairy products in Europe.
‘It’s our biggest native industry, employing nearly 85,000 people and the State broadcaster brings on a known vegan activist with no qualifications in nutrition – the mind absolutely boggles. It is a slap in the face to Ireland’s biggest native industry. Our dairy industry is the envy of the world, but of course there are some emissions.
‘These jobs are outside the M50.
All of these factories are in places such as Ballaghaderreen, Mallow, Mitchelstown and Cootehill, where there is no Facebook and no other factories there.
‘These are the lifeblood industries and it is a cliché but they are the backbone of rural Ireland and it’s a huge export economy.’
Chef JP McMahon also tweeted: ‘Disappointed with the uneducated bias on #whatplanetareyouon. How can almond milk and avocados be more sustainable than Irish dairy? They cause untold damage. No consideration of food as a culture experience either. We’re just beginning to understand our food culture.
‘I am all for biodiversity. But avocados and chickpeas cause the same issues [deforestation, degradation of soil]. My point is replacing one with the other does not simply equal sustainability. We need a balance system and we need to grow more vegetables and fruit in Ireland,’ said Mr McMahon.
Mr Springmann told the MoS that he is due to be paid in the region of €2,000 from RTÉ for travelling over from Oxford for three weekends for the programme.
He said while he is not a qualified nutritionist, he believes ‘I have some authority’ to speak on these issues, as he has been researching food systems from an environmental, health and economic perspective for six years at Oxford.
‘I am a vegan but I am not an animal rights vegan. Lots of people took issue with me suggesting that people eat more avocados but I was suggesting an alternative to what you can have on your bread.
‘It is understandable that the industry is a bit upset. We know that beef is not healthy and dairy is fairly neutral from a health perspective but there are many other foods that are healthier.
‘I understand that farmers that produce dairy feel a bit threatened by that, but it is tremendously important that we help farmers transition to a more sustainable way of farming.
‘Cheese is also quite high in greenhouse gas emissions as you need a lot of milk to produce cheese and it’s also full of not very healthy fats. What I said is all based on our research,’ he said.
Asked about the emissions caused by flying avocados thousands of miles across the world, he claimed that these are relatively low.
A spokesman for RTÉ told the MoS: ‘What Planet Are You On? went out as part of a broader, cross RTÉ initiative that looked at the impact of climate change, locally and globally. All four experts featured on the series were each chosen to participate because of the considerable work they’ve done in their respective fields.’
‘Food pyramid should form basis for advice’
‘A slap in the face to our biggest native industry’