Remove low-quality meat from the market
Low-quality meat must be removed from the market. Meat production burdens the environment and public health and is in need of reform.
In a historic first, the City of Haarlem in the Netherlands has banned advertising for low-quality meat in public spaces, including on buses and billboards.
While the precise details of this ban are still being discussed — in particular, whether it will also apply to meat from more sustainable sources, such as organic meat — it is set to come into force in 2024.
For the Dutch city, this is a fantastic step toward creating a better food environment in which options with high animal welfare standards and sustainable alternatives to low-quality meat products are promoted… a model for the kind of measures we would like to see across the entire EU.
It is no secret that intensive livestock farming systems with low animal welfare standards generate greenhouse gas emissions at a staggering scale. To align the European food system with planetary boundaries, we should reduce animal production and consumption by 70% by 2030 in order to slow the impacts of climate change.
Dietary change is an important piece of the puzzle
For the future of our planet, it is of critical importance that industrial agriculture, and in particular livestock farming, is gradually phased out. This is why the concept of «less, but better» meat is at the centre of this discussion.
- Displacing animal products with low animal welfare standards from the market, such as fast-growing broiler chickens
- Restricting advertising for animal products
- Introducing mandatory animal welfare labelling — or «production method labelling» — indicating how animals were raised throughout their entire lives
By banning advertising for low-quality meat, Haarlem is helping its citizens make better decisions when purchasing animal products: they advocate for better agricultural practices while simultaneously supporting a more sustainable food system.
Haarlem is the first… will the EU follow?
Apart from the appalling conditions to which animals are subjected, and the industry's impact on the climate, factory farming is also associated with a wide range of other environmental and health crises related to pesticides, disease, food safety and resilience, antibiotics, and much more.
Its effects can no longer be ignored. Haarlem has set an example, and now it is time for others to follow suit. For if one city can divert attention away from cheap meat, why not the rest of the EU?
