Meat is crucial for feeding the planet, leading British scientists have said, as they warned it is not more environmentally friendly to go vegan.

Experts from the University of Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College said farmers were increasingly feeling demonized by the unsupported “meat is evil” claims being promoted by environmental lobbyists.

Speaking at a panel in central London, they argued that meat was critical for the physical and mental health of children, particularly in developing countries, and said that moving away from livestock farming would not improve land use.

Geoff Simm, director of Global Academy Agriculture and Food Security at the University of Edinburgh, said, “I think (livestock farmers) do feel they are being demonized.

“Often the argument is made that going vegan would minimize land use, and the modeling studies that have been done demonstrate that’s not the case.

“Meat has massive social benefits. It’s an important source of dietary protein, energy, highly bioavailable micronutrients; even small amounts of animal-sourced food have a really important effect on the development of children in the developing world on their cognitive and physical development, and they are really important.”

Mike Coffey from Scotland’s Rural College added, “It’s completely unnecessary to go vegan.

“If everybody went vegan it would be devastating for the environment. Animals bred for food help boost biodiversity.”

Researchers are currently attempting to breed more environmentally friendly cattle, which grow faster and eat less, which could further reduce the sector’s carbon footprint by reducing the amount of methane released by cows.

Coffey said that the difference in methane emissions from best and worst cattle was about 30 percent and that if all U.K. farmers used the most efficient animals, this could reduce carbon emissions by nearly a third.

Coffey said the next stage will be trying to measure the methane given off by different breeds of cattle to find which are the lowest-emitters.

Coffey said that soon shoppers could be able to check meat labels to find out how much environmental impact their food has had.

He added, “My expectation is that at some point in the near future there will be product labels that relates to the efficiency or carbon impact of the food.”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【纯素食者】zchúnsùshízhě vegan a person who refrains from using any animal product whatever for food, clothing, or any other purpose

【妖魔化】yāomóhuà demonize mark out or describe as evil or culpable

知名科学家说，在给地球生物提供食物方面，肉类至关重要。他们警告说，纯素并不更环保。

爱丁堡大学和苏格兰农村学院的专家说，环保游说人士鼓吹未经证实的“肉是邪恶

的”言论，让农民日益感到自己被妖魔化。

他们在伦敦市中心举行的一个专题小组讨论会上发言，认为肉类对儿童身心健康至关重要，特别是在发展中国家。他们说，放弃畜牧业并不能改善土地使用状况。

爱丁堡大学全球农业和粮食安全学院主任杰夫·西姆说：“我认为（畜牧业者）的确觉得自己被妖魔化了。”

他说：“常有人声称，纯素能将土地使用降至最低水平，而已有的模型研究表明，情况并非如此。”

他说：“肉类有着巨大的社会效益。它是膳食中蛋白质、能量、高生物利用度的微量营养素的重要来源，即使是少量动物源性食品对发展中国家儿童的认知和身体发育都有着非常重要的影响，吃肉非常重要。”

苏格兰农村学院的迈克·科菲补充说：“纯素完全没必要。”

他说：“如果每个人都成为纯素主义者将对环境造成毁灭性影响。饲养动物供人食用有助于促进生物多样性。”

研究人员目前正试图养殖更环保的牛，它们长得较快、吃得较少，可以通过减少牛排放的甲烷来进一步减少该行业的碳足迹。

科菲说，最好的牛和最差的牛的甲烷排放量相差约30%，如果所有英国农民都使用最高效的牛能使碳排放量减少近三分之一。

科菲说，下一阶段将测量不同种类的牛释放的甲烷，找出哪些品种排放甲烷最少。

消费者很快就可以通过查看肉类标签了解他们的食品对环境有多大影响。

他还说：“我预计在不久的将来，会有与食品的效率或碳排放有关的产品标签出现。”

(chinadaily.com.cn)