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Friends of the Earth launches nationwide sustainability scheme

Words by Smiley Team

 

Friends of the Earth is launching a nationwide sustainability scheme to help caterers fight the climate crisis by serving less meat, fish and dairy, and more plant-based dishes.

The production of meat and dairy products, particularly in intensive systems, is a huge source of climate-wrecking emissions* and causes serious damage to nature. Enabling people to eat more plant-based foods and less and better meat and dairy must form a key element of stopping further climate and nature breakdown as well as improving our health and animal welfare.

Kale Yeah! resources are designed to help chefs meet and exceed meat reduction targets including Eating Better’s 50% by 2030 and the Committee on Climate Change’s recommendation  of a 20% reduction per person in the consumption of beef, lamb and dairy products..

Called Kale Yeah!, the scheme encourages three steps: rebalance, incentivise and promote. 

Kale Yeah! resources offer a range of exciting ideas and inspiration for caterers to use and adapt for their setting. These resources begin with a Caterers’ toolkit packed with information on plant-based ingredients and meat alternatives, cookery tips and tricks, menu design and promotion. Next, Friends of the Earth developed a rebalanced menu guide to illustrate how adapting a menu and recipes in different ways can reduce meat/fish/dairy content by 28-56% per cent, for example by. They also launched a guide to launching a loyalty card, with learnings from a pilot scheme carried out at the University of Portsmouth.

Friends of the Earth is also encouraging caterers to source the meat, fish and dairy still on the menu from higher welfare and more planet-friendly sources. This means free-range, organic and pasture-fed instead of intensively farmed, enabling caterers to support UK farmers using nature-friendly production methods.

“Caterers have had to adapt to Covid, for example by supporting students in isolation, but the current situation won’t remain forever." Clare Oxborrow, Friends of the Earth’s food campaigner, said.

 "Kale Yeah! shows caterers how easy it is to create exciting menus with less and better meat and dairy, and more veg, pulses and other tasty plant alternatives, whilst still providing delicious dishes and customer choice.

“Reducing the amount of meat and dairy eaten and produced is critical in the fight against climate and nature breakdown. There is also huge demand from students for food that tastes good and does good.”

“Through Kale Yeah! we want to work with caterers to move meat from playing the starring role on menus to being more of a side show. This shift will be great news for the planet, animal welfare, and our health”.

To find out more about Friends of the Earth and how to get involved with their fight against climate change, head to https://friendsoftheearth.uk/ 

This article aligns with the following UN SDGs

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