Well fed or fed-up?

Food and Farming: well-fed or fed up? – AnimalhealthEurope debate:

Ensuring sustainable food production is one of the greatest challenges of our time, and current conversations indicate a breach of confidence in our food systems and confusion over healthy diets. A highly urbanised population and an array of opinions on social media are helping to drive a disconnect between food choices and knowledge of production practices and nutritious values, which some warn may have a detrimental effect on health.

Such were the meaty topics up for discussion at AnimalhealthEurope’s annual event, which gathered the livestock food chain along with consumer, animal welfare and environmental interest groups, and policy-makers. The debates invited a lively exchange of views on food, nutrition and farming, as well as on divided public perception, consumer demands and how to identify the facts when it comes to livestock production in Europe.

A strong social media commentator on the role of livestock in healthy diets, Professor Frédéric Leroy from the Brussels Free University (VUB) addressed current conversations on diets: “While the incidence of cardiometabolic illnesses is on the rise, attempts at dietary guidance towards healthier diets are becoming more controversial and autocratic, thus contributing to further polarization.” . .