Tesco slammed for urging customers to eat less meat

- Published: 05 March, 2010

Supermarket group Tesco has been heavily criticised for suggesting that consumers eat vegetables to reduce their carbon footprint.

The grocery group’s new ‘Greener Living’ website advises consumers to adopt a vegetarian diet to help the environment, along with suggesting they buy local and seasonal produce.

The Greener Living website states: “Vegetables use less energy to produce than meat. So eat vegetarian or vegan meals to reduce your environmental impact and lower your carbon footprint.”

However, the UK farming industry has questioned why its largest customer is suggesting the public move away from meat.

NFU livestock board chairman Alistair Mackintosh said: “It is disappointing to see advice like this being given out. This is a complex issue and it is wrong to look at it in such a simplistic way.

Tesco said it was not the supermarket’s intention to convert shoppers to a completely vegetarian diet.

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