Question to the EC: Farm to Fork Strategy and plant-based nutrition

See Francisco Guerreiro’s question to the European Commission and the written answer on the Farm to Fork Strategy and plant-based nutrition.

Subject: Farm to Fork Strategy and plant-based nutrition

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published a report that looked at how land-use practices have impacted the planet and found that agriculture had been threatening the world’s ability to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius – the goal of the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

 The report concluded that plant-based diets [and sustainably produced animal-sourced food] ‘present major opportunities for adaptation and mitigation while generating significant co-benefits in terms of human health’.

1. In the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F), will the Commission address plant-based diets and do so directly, avoiding unclear terms such as ‘diets that are more sustainable’ or ‘alternative sources of protein’, which hinder the sector’s recognition, discriminate and confuse consumers, and only contribute to further unjustifiably empower the highly pollutant animal-based food industries? 

2. Given the significantly reduced environmental impact of plant-based foods in comparison with those animal-derived and the increasing consumer demand, will the Commission take notice of the scientific communities’ conclusions by explicitly calling for a reduction in meat consumption?

3. In the F2F, will it present an action to incentivise farmers’ transition to plant protein production? And will it support the promotion and marketing of plant-based foods in the EU?

Answer in writing 

While dietary choices remain a personal matter, it is important to inform consumers about healthy and sustainable life styles and diet choices — as well as to encourage producers to adopt sustainable practices, including for livestock production. 

EU-grown plant proteins also play an important role — offering benefits for health, the climate and the environment. The Commission report on the development of plant proteins in the European Union(1) of November 2018 identifies further potential for growth and offers a set of recommendations to unleash this potential. 

The Commission’s upcoming Farm to Fork Strategy will address the important environmental, economic, health and social challenges faced by EU food systems. Improving the sustainability of primary production, including livestock farming, as well as stimulating a shift towards healthy and sustainable diets, will be important objectives of the strategy.

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