Dr. Keith Belk, director of the Center for Meat Safety and Quality at Colorado State University, has stated that activists opposing meat-based protein consumption are doing a disservice to society. He explained that their efforts to persuade people to reduce muscle protein intake as part of a mixed diet lead to increased consumption of carbohydrates or highly processed foods, which contribute to chronic illnesses. He also noted that the evolution of dietary guidelines has played a role in this, as these activists use them to influence people’s eating habits against their cultural backgrounds or value systems. Dr. Belk shared these views on the fifth episode of the Agricurious podcast titled “Role of meat in society,” while chatting with podcast host Dennis Baffour-Awuah.
The meat industry holds a lot of misconceptions, which lead to negative perceptions and influence consumer choices. According to Dr. Belk, these misconceptions exist because society has, over time, been removed from firsthand knowledge of what is involved in food production and does not understand the complexities of the systems that have developed. He says this is problematic because understanding these systems is critical to addressing food and nutritional security issues. He lamented that scientists should do a better job at explaining these complexities to the public. “One of scientists’ worst capabilities has to do with their inability to communicate what we do and what we learn to society at large,” he said. He further added that “We are at a point where we have to shift how we communicate about food production, do a better job at explaining the complexities to consumers and society in general to help them better understand why certain things happen the way they do.” He also called for accountability for scientists who have become agenda-driven and share falsified information, emphasizing that established mechanisms should address this to reduce misinformation about meat shared with the public.
Dr. Belk expressed concern about the lack of standardization in terminology used across different nutrition studies. He said this situation often leads to information being taken out of context, resulting in misinformation. “For example, what constitutes a processed meat in one study might be considered to be fresh meat in another study,” he explained. “When you have that variety of nomenclature used across hundreds of studies, then you know it’s going to lead to things being taken out of context or misinformation because of the lack of standardization there”. He added, however, that moving forward, it is important to develop a standard nomenclature that society at large can understand, helping individuals make informed decisions about what is good or bad in their diets.
With the US consumer holding concerns around price, quality, animal well being and animal handling practices, Dr. Belk believes the use of technologies such as genetic engineering and CRISPR in meat production hold the potential to address these concerns by producing more food more efficiently with better considerations of the animals in mind, however, existing regulatory hurdles slow their adoption delaying society its benefits.
Speaking further, he said that the role of the scientist is not to indoctrinate the public, but to objectively identify information about the unknown that previously did not exist, and to have society develop its values and use that information to determine how they live their lives.
Listen to the full conversation with Dr. Belk on episode 5 of the Agricurious podcast.
