I've just listened to this article on radio 4 about how taxing red meat would save lives, it is based on research by the WHO (world health organisation) which shows a link between eating red meat and processed meat as a carcinogen. Denmark already has a red meat tax and other governments look likely to follow.
I know this is a controversial issue to some but as it's World Vegan Month and this is a Healthy eating forum this is an interesting/alarming twist in the never ending awareness of how our food choices have caused ill health, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. And now health experts are recommending taxing red meat to discourage people from eating it and save lives.
I'm a great believer in 'us' the consumer being not only aware of what we eat but the consequences of our choices so we live in harmony with our bodies and our environment.
To me feeling healthy is a dominant driving force in my life and my food choices reflect this even tho' I have the odd indulgent treat and to me this is the secret to get the balance right for us.
Here's 3 articles from the Independent/Guardian/ITV news.
Very interesting Jerry and it comes as no surprise that Denmark are leading the way with this. 🌱 I think people looking into what they are eating and taking responsibility for themselves can only be a good thing for ones health. When I was younger I used to think if it was carcinogenic they wouldn’t be allowed to put it on the supermarket shelves. How naive was I.
the things i believed when i was younger really come as a shock when i learned the truth. some through painful experience too.your post made me smile with recognition.
Sooo ... first they subsidize the meat industry (using tax revenue) and throw them loads of sweeteners so that they can carry on abusing animals, trash the environment, and produce substandard meat, then they decide they're going to add some tax on top. Sounds legit.
As for meat being the source of all our health problems: I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It's not "controversial". It's just wrong. There is no known mechanism by which meat might cause cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, or any of the other modern scares. There isn't even a statistical association. It seems to me we're slipping slowly back into pre-Enlightenment thought, when proclamations from on high were more important than actual facts.
If people aren't allowed to eat red meat then they're going be eating a lot more chicken instead. One cow yields a couple of hundred kilos of meat (=2000 meals), whereas one chicken provides about 4. Hardly a victory for animal welfare, then: the chicken-killing lines are going to see their throughput increase by at least two orders of magnitude, with all the back-end cruelty and farmland-destruction that that entails.
Incidentally ... wasn't it Denmark that decided to add a tax on fatty foods about ten years ago, and then quietly revoked it when they could find no evidence to support the idea that fat is unhealthy? It's deja vu all over again.
So here's my proposal for the powers-that-be: stop subsidizing the madness. Bring farm laws on the treatment of animals in line with those with all other domestic animals. It is not "scientific" to feed cows on grain and bits of dead animal. It is not "efficient" to confine them in their own filth in overcrowded, disease-inducing conditions. It is not "humane" to herd animals into a production line of death where they can hear and smell the distress of their fellows. Manure is a resource, not " waste" to be hidden in lagoons. If farmers are allowed to farm, without interference from people who have never raised so much as a lettuce in a window-box, then meat prices will rise - slightly, probably not by 80% - and there will be a revolution in sustainable agriculture.
Of course, if I were being cynical (or more cynical than usual) I might think this was all just an exercise to raise more tax revenue, not an attempt to solve real and pressing problems.
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It’s almost weekend, let’s have some midweek fun with Chocolate Mug Cake, gluten-free, dairy free and paleo! 🍫😋❤️🌺
