MEP Francisco Guerreiro launches first Portuguese documentary on plant-based food production

Lisbon, October 18, 2023 - “Carne: a pegada insustentável” (Meat: the unsustainable footprint) is the first Portuguese documentary to address the urgency of changing the eating patterns of the world's population, favoring a plant-based diet over one based on animal protein. Independent MEP Francisco Guerreiro, from the European Parliamentary Group Greens/European Free Alliance, has once again teamed up with director Hugo de Almeida to develop a film based on interviews with various national and international experts, which has its world premiere scheduled for November 25, starting at 6:30 p.m., at the Fernando Lopes cinema (Lisbon).


Produced by Francisco Guerreiro and directed by Hugo de Almeida, the duo who created the web series “Unconditional Basic Income: a path to freedom”, this documentary, despite focusing on the national reality, is filmed in countries such as Portugal, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, France and Belgium, with narration by actor Heitor Lourenço.

With more than 20 interviews with experts in the field, as well as people who have adopted a plant-based diet, “Meat: the unsustainable footprint” also features biologist, writer and regular columnist for “The Guardian”, George Monbiot, as well as professor, Gabriel Mateus, and the founders of the animal sanctuary located in Paredes de Coura, Quinta das Águias, Ivone and Joep Ingen Housz.


“This documentary is a warning about the harmful consequences that current eating habits are having on the planet, on human health and on animal welfare. In a climate and biodiversity crisis like the one we are experiencing, socio-economic tensions are likely to worsen. We therefore sought to give a voice to the experts and inform them about the existence of alternatives that, at various levels, are less harmful to the future of Humanity and the Planet,” says Francisco Guerreiro.


The world premiere of “Meat: the unsustainable footprint” is scheduled for November 25 (Saturday), at 6:30 p.m., at the Fernando Lopes Cinema (Lisbon). Admission is free, however, due to the limited capacity of the room, prior registration is required at www.carnedoc.com.


In addition to the capital, the documentary will also be shown in Porto, Faro and Setúbal (dates, times and locations to be announced soon) before being made available online from April next year.

“The choice of Portugal for the world premiere was no coincidence. The most recent data indicates that the Portuguese are a faithful paradigm, in terms of eating habits, of the global problem we face and we thought it was a good starting point,” explains Francisco Guerreiro. He adds: “For example, the Portuguese are still the biggest consumers of fish and aquaculture products per capita in the European Union. This overconsumption is also true of livestock products, according to the statistics.”


It should be remembered that in April this year, the MEP had already requested a market study from Intercampus on the eating habits of the Portuguese population. The main conclusions showed that 66% of the Portuguese consider price to be the biggest barrier to consuming alternatives to animal protein. The same study also indicates that 88% of those surveyed are omnivores (eat animal and vegetable products), more men (91%) than women (84%), and the main reason behind this choice is “the pleasure of eating” (72%). Those who opt for a meat-free diet say that the main motivation is “respect for animals” (76%).
Finally, the study concluded that 33% of those surveyed want to reduce their consumption of animal products and 55% are thinking of replacing meat with vegetable “meat”.

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