Eating Better alliance publishes guide to buying sustainable meat and dairy
The Eating Better alliance has produced an eight-step guide to help restaurants source more sustainable meat and dairy.
The Sourcing Better guide offers a vision of farming that considers climate, nature and the health and welfare of farm animals, as well as profitability for farmers.
It suggests a three-step process to better procurement, linked to eight key areas including the way animals are reared and fed, limiting the use of antibiotics, tackling GHG emissions and nature loss, minimising pollution, water scarcity and run-off, and improving soil health.
The goal is to move beyond the current baseline and standards certifications to a system that favours the highest animal welfare and the lowest impact on the environment.
Simon Billing, executive director at Eating Better, said: "We're calling for transformational change for all meat sold, while recognising the challenges this presents to the retail and foodservice industries.
"While these sectors are rightly focused on ensuring the country is fed during lockdown, when we are over the worst, we need to look at the issues and concerns around meat production as a whole and the impact it has on the planet.
"Our aim is to support retailers and restaurants on the journey to sourcing better and this guide is a first step to achieving that, and, ultimately, to making climate- and nature-friendly meat available and affordable to all."
The Sourcing Better guide is aligned with Eating Better's ‘Better By Half' roadmap and long-term vision to stimulate a 50% reduction in meat and dairy consumption in the UK by 2030 and a transition to better production as standard.
The Eating Better alliance is made up of organisations including the Sustainable Restaurant Association, Food Foundation, Soil Association, WWF UK, Vegetarian Society, Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Royal Society for Public Health, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
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