The Ministry of Consumption that Alberto Garzón directs wants that the school menus eliminate meat several days a week. However, it regrets that there is no consensus between the autonomous communities to advance this plan. This is stated in a response through the Transparency Portal to OKDIARIO.
To questions from this newspaper about the plans and studies on meat in Spain, the Ministry points out that «it is intended to advance in the consensus with the autonomous communities, in order to establish common criteria that allow promoting the supply of healthier and more sustainable menus in service establishments meals from the public sector as a whole ». This includes schools and other public spaces such as centers for the elderly or canteens in public centers.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Alberto Garzón recalls that currently the National Plan for Official Control of the Food Chain 2021-2025 – drawn up by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition in collaboration with the autonomous communities – establishes in its section on control of school menus a weekly frequency (5 days) recommended maximum of three servings of meat per week, prioritizing the consumption of lean meat and recommending a consumption of no more than one portion per week of red and processed meat, in the menus that are provided to students in schools ”. However, Alberto Garzón’s team aspires to make the recommendation mandatory.
In this same sense, the ministry insists that “for several years, it has been recommended by different scientific societies and organizations, both internationally and nationally, a moderate consumption of meat as a consequence of the scientific evidence between excessive consumption and certain diseases.
«There are, therefore, many studies that advocate for healthier and more sustainable dietary models that agree on the need to increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables and legumes while reducing the intake of sugars and red meat », they remarked from Alberto Garzón’s team. They list, for example, a report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization (WHO), another from a commission of the body EAT–Lancet on healthy diets with sustainable food systems, another from the United States National Academy of Science, another from FAO / WHO, and another from European Parliament.
In addition, they point out that based on the quantity and quality of the scientific evidence available, the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN), a body that depends on Consumption, «has been recommending, since 2015, to maintain a moderate meat consumption, of no more than twice a week, and defending the benefits that a varied, moderate and balanced diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, olive oil, legumes and fish, and with limited consumption of meats, has to health”.
Meatless monday
The first city council that analyzed that the schools left meat off their menu one day a week, on Monday, was that of Collado Villalba. We can propose it and the PSOE voted in favor. However, PP, Ciudadanos, Vox and an independent local party overthrew the motion, while Íñigo Errejón’s Más Madrid opted for abstention.
The promoter of the proposition, Thomas Alberich (Podemos) affirmed that it is about “prohibitions”, “it is about encouraging the idea in the three restaurants on public land.” He then spoke about Covid-19: “Whoever does not relate what is happening on the planet to the loss of biodiversity does not listen to the scientists. Pandemics arise in a globalized world, where hectares of forests are burned to become intensive livestock. He assures that he does not charge against local meat, which is of the highest quality in the area, but against “the pig, the cow, the hamburgers that come from America and cause overweight.”
It seems that we are talking about strange things. It may seem like an exaggerated idea but it will be common. In the United States it has already been approved. It is not communist or Bolivarian, “he settled to finish by launching:” Hearing about freedom from formations that want to ban half of the parties is bizarre.
To close the debate, the mayor Mariola Vargas (PP) affirmed that day that “if this motion is against American cows, remember that this is the Plenary of Collado Villalba ». “Coronary heart disease is related to fats trans, which are in the buns, the french fries … not in the meat of the Guadarrama. In times of hardship what people want is to eat, whateverHopefully a ribeye from Villalba », he has settled.
