AMI Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Janet Riley told National Public Radio (NPR) today that the Meatless Monday campaign sponsored by Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future is not about health because meat is the one food group that is consumed in the proper quantity according to federal consumption data.
While NPR’s story didn’t reference the data Riley provided, these figures show that the U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend five to seven ounces from the meat and beans group per day. Men consume 6.9 ounces of meat per day and women consume 4.4 ounces of meat.
Riley argued that a Meatless Monday campaign suggests that people are over-consuming meat, which they are not. But they are under-consuming vegetables, fruits and whole grains and dramatically over-consuming discretionary fats and sugars.
"It seems if you're concerned about people's health, you'd want to have a Vegetable Tuesday or Whole Grains Wednesday. But now, we're telling people to give up meat, and that's unfortunate," says Riley. Riley noted that she suspects that this movement is being pushed by people who care more about animal rights than human nutrition.
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Source: American Meat Institute