“Vote for a greener planet, lower food bills, higher health and kindness to animals. And you do not even need to wait for the general elections,” says Global vegan campaign encouraging the consumption of plant-based products throughout January.
Transforming the world’s food system by reducing large-scale meat production is crucial if we would like to preserve the planet’s natural ecosystems. However, I do not think Veganuary is the best strategy to do that.
While switching to vegan foods could seem empowering, it puts unrealistic pressure on consumers to modify to plant-based foods. By failing to spotlight the state-backed corporate power at the heart of the food system, Veganuary is probably going disempowering its supporters.
In collaboration with Charis Davis, a Master’s Development student at SOAS University in London, I investigated the ownership structure and marketing strategies of several plant-based food corporations. We discovered that many brands famous for sustainably producing plant-based foods are owned by giant meat and dairy corporations implicated in allegations of large-scale environmental destruction.
To take Wywera, a pioneer of plant-based foods. The Dutch company produces a big selection of vegetarian and vegan dishes, similar to vegan hot dogs, plant-based salmon fillets, Tex Mex strips and vegan steaks. Vivera’s website suggests that customers can buy vegan products to “make a huge difference to human health and the well-being of the planet” and states that “you can improve the world with every bite by eating plant-based foods.”
However, Vivera’s internet marketing and product packaging don’t emphasize to consumers that it’s owned by JBS, the world’s largest meat producer. Every day JBS’s global operational carnage According to the U.S. think tank of the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy, 8.7 million birds, 92,600 pigs and 42,700 cattle.
JBS’s purchase of Vivera in 2021 doesn’t mean moving away from meat. Shortly after acquiring the plant-based food company, it announced such plans will invest USD 130 million at two of its U.S. beef processing plants to extend cattle slaughter capability by about 300,000 annually. JBS Is largest buyer cattle from the Amazon and due to this fact contributes largely to deforestation.
Another example is Alpro. The well-known producer of vegan dairy products was bought by Danone in 2017 in response to the growing popularity of milk substitutes. But the language is on Alpro websitefor instance, “doing your part with every bite or sip” seems contradictory Danone’s theorems to be the primary leading brand in the world for fresh dairy products.
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According to the website’s calculations, cow’s milk produces thrice more greenhouse gas emissions, uses ten times more land and twice as much freshwater than its plant-based alternatives. Our world in data.
Although Danone is entering the plant-based products market, it doesn’t mean withdrawing from its basic lines of dairy products. Like one Food industry bulletin as he puts it: “The company…wants to cross-promote its plant-based and traditional dairy beverages to households where people engage in both categories.”
Both cases exemplify a broader trend in which giant meat and dairy conglomerates, including JBS and Danone, are buying up smaller plant-based food corporations as a part of their corporate expansion strategies, in keeping with a 2022 study. IPES-Food reportcoalition of food system experts.
Currently, meat and dairy producers are supported by state mega-subsidies. In the EU and the USA, animal breeders receive approx 1000 times more subsidies than producers of plant-based and cultured meat.
However, Veganuary’s apolitical stance ignores the support the meat and dairy industry receives from wealthy country governments. While the planet desperately needs a significant shift away from meat production and consumption, food megacorporations are unlikely to be the ones to guide the transition to a greener planet.
How to support the production of plant-based food
Significant step change would require governments to do not less than three things. First, they need to impose heavy fines on and potentially confiscate land from corporations that destroy the environment through meat and dairy production.
Second, governments should redirect subsidies to plant-based food production fairly than supporting agro-industrial meat production. Third, they need to expand social welfare to assist cash-strapped consumers buy plant-based products.
Such moves could seem far-fetched, but in the context of the existential threat of climate breakdown, they are probably quite moderate. But success requires strong political leadership, something that has been sidelined by Veganuary’s celebration of consumer power.
We must urgently channel growing public awareness of the environmental damage wrought by our current food system – through voting and large-scale social movements – right into a political force that paves the way for truly climate-friendly diets.
