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Letters | Why Hong Kong’s public health officials should endorse plant-based meat
- Better public health, lower carbon emissions and less risk of superbugs are just some of the benefits of promoting plant-based meat
- Unfortunately, government statements tend to treat plant-based meat as a fad and ignore the meat industry’s effects on climate change
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With reference to the recent launch of plant-based seafood by a Hong Kong-based technology company, we believe the city is on the right track to remedy the problems caused by the meat industry – including antimicrobial resistance, health risks of meat consumption and climate change.
To further promote plant-based meat, the government must inform the public more clearly of the risks and consequences of consuming traditional meat products while officially endorsing plant-based meat as what our society needs.
With the overuse of antibiotics in animal farming causing antibiotic resistance in humans, promoting plant-based meat is essential when fighting the threat of superbugs. The Food Safety Centre of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has worked with other government departments to minimise the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance.
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Yet, its main focus is on surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in local animal farms and educating the public on good hygiene practices to prevent the spread of bacteria. In a 2019 newsletter article on plant-based meat, a scientific officer called it a “new food fad” without acknowledging the enormous benefits of the new technology for fighting antimicrobial resistance.
Similarly, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department’s Fight AMR campaign mainly tackles antibiotic abuse in local farms and disregards the potential of plant-based meat to reduce the demand for antibiotic-fed animal stock.
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In a newsletter article in 2017, the Department of Health warned of the health risks of excessive meat consumption, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and colon cancer. While the department encourages the public to adopt a healthy diet with less meat, it does not highlight the health benefits of plant-based meat in its educational materials.
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