TRANSLATION WITH GOOGLE TRANSLATE AND DEEPL:
Early summer, sun, free Pentecost weekend – Millions of Germans are looking forward to barbecuing! But this news could spoil their food.
The German Nutrition Society ( DGE ) is planning new guidelines for its food recommendations. And wants to suggest a radical renunciation of meat to the citizens of the federal government.
An explosive internal document on the new "food strategy" (excerpts of which have been made available to BILD) reveals: It wants a new maximum limit of just ten grams of meat per day!
That does not even correspond to a whole slice of Mortadella (15 grams)! Or said differently: Per citizen would be only one curry sausage per month in it!
The currywurst invoice was published in the „ food newspaper “; Eckhard Heuser has set it up. The general manager of the Association of the Dairy Industry tells BILD about the planned new recommendations for meat consumption: "This a madness and not practical."
It is true that no one has to comply with the directive per se. But canteen operators could in fact be forced to do so if they want to keep their DGE certificate. Canteens that do not have such a certificate are considered unhealthy, so to speak. Heuser predicts: "If you can't get your currywurst in the canteen anymore, you'll go to the chip shop in front of it."
Citizens in Germany currently consume an average of 19 grams of poultry per day, plus 40 grams of red meat and 50 grams of processed meat. Makes a total of 109 grams per day or. 763 grams per week.
So far, the DGE has advised not to eat more than 600 grams of meat per week and, if possible, to include vegetarian days – for health reasons.
The DGE is no longer just about health
But the DGE is no longer concerned with health reasons!The background to the planned meat reform is very different: In the future, environmental factors such as „ Sustainability “ should also be taken into account in the recommendations.
Means: It is no longer just a question of how much meat is healthy or unhealthy, but of the CO ₂ balance of the food.
The DGE confirmed on BILD's request: „ We are revising the method by which the food-related nutritional recommendations for Germany are to be derived in the future. “ However, the final recommendation was not yet clear. The document that has become known only shows „ the preliminary results of the new method “.
Brisant: The recommendations should flow into the new food strategy of Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir ( 57, Greens ) this year and thus become quasi-official.
In general, the DGE emphasizes: „ Nobody wants to ban people from their occasional currywurst. But meat consumption in the population is too high overall for health and sustainable reasons, that is a scientific fact. “
Hardly any evidence of the benefits
Less meat consumption = better climate? The Lower Saxony Chamber of Agriculture calculated that even halving meat consumption would bring Germany closer to its climate targets by only around one percentage point. Rather, the thick chunk in CO2 emissions is the energy sector ( and others. Lignite-fired power plants ).Heike Harstick, Chief Executive of the Meat Association, is appalled. She tells BILD: "Already today, even in Germany, many people are undersupplied with certain nutrients, for example iron or vitamin B12. Should it remain with the new dietary recommendations presented by the DGE and such a drastic reduction of animal foods be recommended, the deficiency would be exacerbated." The planned reference values are "in no way scientifically proven in terms of health".
CDU nutrition expert Albert Stegmann warns that the DGE must not be "harnessed for a patronizing nutrition policy."
Stegmann told BILD: "Valuable animal foods such as poultry or milk must not be pilloried without good cause." He added that citizens in Germany are tired of government coercion - "whether it's Veggie Day, the abolition of the bread button or personal choices about what they eat. Instead, we need nutrition education and exercise programs, especially for young people."
