WASHINGTON — The meat industry is seeing red. Meat companies have tried to rehabilitate an image tarnished in recent years by health and environmental concerns. Now the industry is swiftly and aggressively working to discredit a proposal for new dietary guidelines that recommends people eat less red and processed meat.
The proposal last month by a government advisory committee also relegates the health benefits of lean meat to a footnote to the main recommendations.
“We’ve been put in a position over the years to almost be apologizing for our product, we’re not going to do that anymore,” said Barry Carpenter, the president and CEO of the North American Meat Institute.
Carpenter’s group recently released a video of the slaughter process to counter criticism about the way animals are killed. It also is trying to better engage with consumers through social media, tweeting links to its “Meat Mythcrushers” site, which looks at nutrition and other issues from the industry’s point of view.
Now, it is pushing the departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, which will write final dietary guidelines by year’s end. It is meeting with officials and asking them to do what they have done in the past: prominently recommend lean meats as part of a healthy diet.
