The EU in partnership with the WWF has just released a strategy report dubbed: ADOPTING HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE DIETS: KEY OPPORTUNITIES AND BARRIERS, which is part of LiveWell for LIFE, “a pioneering project which aims to contribute towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the EU food supply chain, and demonstrate what sustainable diets could look like for different European countries.”
The report’s introduction begins by stating that the European super state now needs to control our food diets:
Food consumption patterns in Europe are currently unsustainable: European food consumption is responsible for a large part of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. It is accepted that there needs to be a reduction in global greenhouse gas emission which are contributing to climate change. […] LiveWell for LIFE is a pioneering project which aims to contribute towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the EU food supply chain, and demonstrate what sustainable diets could look like for different European countries.”
The report writes that it “is a summary of the efforts of LiveWell for LIFE and the Network of European Food Stakeholders to find the most important social and economic barriers and opportunities for sustainable diets in Spain, France and Sweden and in the EU“.
It’s no secret that environmentalist, left-wing, vegetarian, authoritarian wackos have had their eye on dictating human eating habits for a long time, and have had a hard time stomaching our appetite for meat on our plates and barbecue grills. Read here for example. Before too long we’ll have to content ourselves with celery and carrot sticks.
The report writes on pages 11-12:
The Italian Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition has identified the rise of the responsible consumer and what it terms consumActors – sustainability-savvy consumers who want to be involved in the food production process. According to its research, people’s dietary habits will have to radically transform in order to meet the dietary and nutritional needs of a growing population in a world that is more affluent and more urbanised. And they’ll have to take responsibility for their choices too – something that may come as a shock to the average post-modern consumer.”
A growing number of consumers are open to the idea of changing their diets. For example in the UK, government research found that 62% of respondents were ‘very or fairly willing’ to give up red meat, while 36% were ‘very or fairly willing’ to give up dairy products. Dutch research has identified a growing interest in flexitarian eating: a vegetarian diet that occasionally includes meat.”
Here we note that the target food staple is meat and dairy products. Getting people to change their eating habits and abstain from consuming certain staples is no easy task. The report has identified motivation factors. Interestingly, environmental factors rank at the very bottom (p. 13):
Health is a motivator for behaviour change – more than any concern about the environment. UK government research into attitudes and behaviour around sustainable food found that health is the most important factor for consumers (81%). Environmental sustainability was the least important (26%). A study of consumers in the 27 EU member states also showed that health was more important than environmental concerns for consumer food choices. Some 32% of people said they would like to buy meat or meat products less often. The main reason given was for health (54%) compared to 16% for environmental reasons.”
It goes without saying that consumers want healthy food. But at the same time many also want to experience eating pleasure. Each has to decide the balance that is right for him/herself.
It quickly becomes obvious in the report’s language that EU bureaucrats think that consumers are just too stupid to make the right decisions. Throughout the report one finds the terms like “unaware” or “confusion“, or “limited knowledge“, or “lack of understanding” to name a few when discussing the consumer.
The report is just one of the first steps in the EU’s scheme to take over the human diet. The report ends:
Going forward, LiveWell for LIFE will explore these opportunities and barriers as we find ways to adopt sustainable diets in the pilot countries, and the policy changes needed for a move towards sustainable diets across the EU.”
I smell massive meat taxes cooking in the EU regulatory kitchen. The food tyranny is coming! Be prepared to be spoon-fed bland, organic baby-food by the EU super-nanny state.
Image source: livewellforlife.eu/report.pdf