Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE LITTLE MAC
Munchers urged to ditch quarter pounders for quarter ouncers to save planet
OUR appetite for burgers is now “exceeding planetary boundaries” and must be curbed, experts say.
Hard-to-swallow guidance tells us we can help save the world by swapping our quarter-pounders for... quarter-ouncers.
These would be 16 times smaller and have just 15 calories compared with the 245 in a Mcdonald’s quarter-pounder.
The study says our 147g daily meat intake should be shrunk and mostly replaced by beans, peas, soy and nuts.
The aim is to use land for farming better suited to feeding the global population – set to hit 10 billion by 2050.
Animal farming uses more land than crops and vast swathes of our remaining rain forests are being lost to make space for it. Food production is also a source of greenhouse gas and pollution, while bad diets cause serious health problems.
The report, in journal The Lancet, states: “Food production is exceeding planetary boundaries, driving climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and changes in land use.”
Under its recommended daily limits, we would be restricted to just 7g of beef or lamb. We would also get only a quarter of a slice of bacon or a tenth of a sausage.
And the Eat-lancet report rations chicken to 29g a day, or a nugget and a half, while the 28g of fish allowed equates to half a fish-finger.
Co-author Professor Tim Lang, from London’s City University, said: “The food we eat and how we produce it determines the health of people and the planet, and we are getting this seriously wrong.
“We need to change the global food system on a scale not seen before.”
But his co-author Prof Walter Willet of Harvard University in the US denied they were trying to turn the world vegan,
saying: “From a health standpoint it’s not really clear being vegan is the healthiest diet, as you can run into deficiencies.”
He added that people can add up daily limits to enjoy a steak every few weeks.
But the Us-based Animal Agriculture Alliance slammed the study, saying it had “declared war on meat and dairy”.
Christopher Snowdon, of think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, added: “They are making no secret of their desire to tax and ban their way to a nearvegan diet for the world’s population.
“Their desire to limit people to a tenth of a sausage a day leaves us in no doubt we are dealing with fanatics. They say they want to save the planet but it is not clear which planet are they on.”