The information and conclusions contained in the FFA report for Plant Based News are summarized by Liam Pritchet.
Denial tactics and eco-crimes exposed
The FFA report is devoted to how marketing activities of the dairy and meat industries may affect the environment and the global food chain. According to the authors, these industries influence public opinion with disinformation, thereby undermining global efforts towards sustainable development. As the study's lead author, Nicholas Carter, director of environmental science at the Game Changers Institute and co-creator of Plant Based Data, emphasizes, “the report exposes denial tactics and eco-crimes and encourages an end to these practices.”
The report includes, among others: a detailed analysis of campaigns such as #YesToMeat (“yes to meat”), which, with the help of artificial intelligence, create a “promoting” narrative on social media. The authors show how science at the service of corporations can spread misleading information and present how the above-mentioned activities influence the shaping of policies and social attitudes towards the meat industry.
Raise public awareness and strengthen the regulatory framework
One example discussed in the report is another document, the Eat Lancet Commission Report, which was intended to be the first in history to set out scientific goals for healthy food and its sustainable production. According to the FFA authors, it downplays the long-known negative impact of industrial animal breeding on the natural environment. As they point out, “science operating in a rapidly changing media environment susceptible to fake news faces a significant challenge.” They point out that health campaigns are particularly vulnerable to polarization and contamination by self-serving disinformation.
As Liam Pritchet writes, despite the intensive activities of the meat industry, scientists have agreed for years that limiting the consumption of animal products will benefit both the planet and the health of the population. Suffice it to mention that industrial animal breeding is responsible for 16.5%. global greenhouse gas emissions. In the report, the FFA also lists positive trends in this area – increasingly aware societies and a strengthened regulatory framework are able to resist the marketing activities of the meat business.
