Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to educate the public about the (a) health and (b) environmental effects of eating high amounts of red meat.

The Government provides tips and information on healthy eating through the Live Well pages of NHS Choices website and through promotional material on the ‘eatwell’ plate, to educate the public on eating meat as part of a healthy balanced diet.

As depicted in the ‘eatwell’ plate, the Government recommends eating some meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein as part of a healthy balanced diet.

In response to one of the Green Food Project’s recommendations in 2012, Defra initiated a debate about sustainable food consumption. The Sustainable Consumption report from the group of interested organisations which came together to work on this project, published in July 2013, included eight principles of a healthy and sustainable diet. These are being reviewed by the Global Food Security Programme and will be published as part of its Insight series in due course.