IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v109y2022ics0306919222000173.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Meat, money and messaging: How the environmental and health harms of red and processed meat consumption are framed by the meat industry

Author

Listed:
  • Clare, Kathryn
  • Maani, Nason
  • Milner, James

Abstract

Calls to cut consumption of red and processed meat, in order to protect both human and planetary health, are drawing increased attention from policy actors. This poses a potential threat to meat industry profits. It is well evidenced that producers of other harmful commodities (such as fossil fuels or tobacco) respond with a range of tactics to impede policy action when similarly threatened, including framing the issues at stake in a light more favourable to industry interests. In order to investigate how the meat industry in the UK frames discussions about the environmental and health impacts of red and processed meat consumption, thematic content analysis was performed on documents sourced from the websites of 6 organisations representing the UK meat industry. Across the dataset, four main framings were identified; ‘still open for debate’, ‘most people have no need to worry’, ‘keep eating meat to be healthy’ and ‘no need to cut down to be green’. These frames work in conjunction to minimise the perception of harm, whilst also encouraging continued consumption. Messages were constructed using ‘classic’ framing devices employed by other producers of harmful commodities. These findings are of importance as they provide insight into how debates about food policy may be influenced by meat industry framing of the issues at hand.

Suggested Citation

  • Clare, Kathryn & Maani, Nason & Milner, James, 2022. "Meat, money and messaging: How the environmental and health harms of red and processed meat consumption are framed by the meat industry," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:109:y:2022:i:c:s0306919222000173
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102234
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919222000173
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.foodpol.2022.102234?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nilsson, Andreas & Hansla, André & Heiling, Joakim Malmborg & Bergstad, Cecilia Jakobsson & Martinsson, Johan, 2016. "Public acceptability towards environmental policy measures: Value-matching appeals," Environmental Science & Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 176-184.
    2. Smith, Stephanie L. & Shiffman, Jeremy, 2016. "Setting the global health agenda: The influence of advocates and ideas on political priority for maternal and newborn survival," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 86-93.
    3. Nixon, L. & Mejia, P. & Cheyne, A. & Wilking, C. & Dorfman, L. & Daynard, R., 2015. ""We're part of the solution": Evolution of the food and beverage industry's framing of obesity concerns between 2000 and 2012," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(11), pages 2228-2236.
    4. Peter Scarborough & Paul Appleby & Anja Mizdrak & Adam Briggs & Ruth Travis & Kathryn Bradbury & Timothy Key, 2014. "Dietary greenhouse gas emissions of meat-eaters, fish-eaters, vegetarians and vegans in the UK," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 179-192, July.
    5. MacKenzie, Ross & Mathers, Annalise & Hawkins, Benjamin & Eckhardt, Jappe & Smith, Julia, 2018. "The tobacco industry’s challenges to standardised packaging: A comparative analysis of issue framing in public relations campaigns in four countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(9), pages 1001-1011.
    6. Nason Maani Hessari & May CI van Schalkwyk & Sian Thomas & Mark Petticrew, 2019. "Alcohol Industry CSR Organisations: What Can Their Twitter Activity Tell Us about Their Independence and Their Priorities? A Comparative Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-12, March.
    7. Campbell, Norah & Mialon, Melissa & Reilly, Kathryn & Browne, Sarah & Finucane, Francis M., 2020. "How are frames generated? Insights from the industry lobby against the sugar tax in Ireland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    8. Oliver Lazarus & Sonali McDermid & Jennifer Jacquet, 2021. "The climate responsibilities of industrial meat and dairy producers," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 1-21, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aschemann-Witzel, Jessica & Mulders, Maartje D.G.H. & Mouritzen, Simone Lykke Tranholm, 2023. "Outside-in and bottom-up: Using sustainability transitions to understand the development phases of mainstreaming plant-based in the food sector in a meat and dairy focused economy," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    2. Áron Török & Ching-Hua Yeh & Davide Menozzi & Péter Balogh & Péter Czine, 2023. "Consumers' preferences for processed meat: a best–worst scaling approach in three European countries," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mervenur Özel & Diana Bogueva & Dora Marinova & Ismail Hakki Tekiner, 2022. "Climate Change Knowledge and Awareness of Nutrition Professionals: A Case Study from Turkey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Menrad, K. & Emberger-Klein, A. & Schops, J., 2018. "Factors influencing consumers behavioral intention towards climate-friendly food consumption in Southern Germany," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277108, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Helen Harwatt & Joan Sabaté & Gidon Eshel & Sam Soret & William Ripple, 2017. "Substituting beans for beef as a contribution toward US climate change targets," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 143(1), pages 261-270, July.
    4. Jennifer A. Jay & Raffaella D’Auria & J. Cully Nordby & David Andy Rice & David A. Cleveland & Anthony Friscia & Sophie Kissinger & Marc Levis & Hannah Malan & Deepak Rajagopal & Joel R. Reynolds & We, 2019. "Reduction of the carbon footprint of college freshman diets after a food-based environmental science course," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 547-564, June.
    5. Seán Schmitz & Sophia Becker & Laura Weiand & Norman Niehoff & Frank Schwartzbach & Erika von Schneidemesser, 2019. "Determinants of Public Acceptance for Traffic-Reducing Policies to Improve Urban Air Quality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-16, July.
    6. Vivian Lyall & Lindsay Wolfson & Natasha Reid & Nancy Poole & Karen M. Moritz & Sonya Egert & Annette J. Browne & Deborah A. Askew, 2021. "“The Problem Is that We Hear a Bit of Everything…”: A Qualitative Systematic Review of Factors Associated with Alcohol Use, Reduction, and Abstinence in Pregnancy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-24, March.
    7. Ghada Talat Alhothali & Noha M. Almoraie & Israa M. Shatwan & Najlaa M. Aljefree, 2021. "Sociodemographic Characteristics and Dietary Choices as Determinants of Climate Change Understanding and Concern in Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-14, October.
    8. Tan, Xueping & Wang, Xinyu & Zaidi, Syed Haider Ali, 2019. "What drives public willingness to participate in the voluntary personal carbon-trading scheme? A case study of Guangzhou Pilot, China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-1.
    9. Louise Seconda & Julia Baudry & Benjamin Allès & Christine Boizot-Szantai & Louis-Georges Soler & Pilar Galan & Serge Hercberg & Brigitte Langevin & Denis Lairon & Philippe Pointereau & Emmanuelle Kes, 2018. "Comparing nutritional, economic, and environmental performances of diets according to their levels of greenhouse gas emissions," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 148(1), pages 155-172, May.
    10. Cavaliere, Alessia & De Marchi, Elisa & Frola, Enrica Nadia & Benfenati, Alessandro & Aletti, Giacomo & Bacenetti, Jacopo & Banterle, Alessandro, 2023. "Exploring the environmental impact associated with the abandonment of the Mediterranean Diet, and how to reduce it with alternative sustainable diets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    11. Campbell, Norah & Mialon, Melissa & Reilly, Kathryn & Browne, Sarah & Finucane, Francis M., 2020. "How are frames generated? Insights from the industry lobby against the sugar tax in Ireland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    12. Anna Kustar & Dalia Patino-Echeverri, 2021. "A Review of Environmental Life Cycle Assessments of Diets: Plant-Based Solutions Are Truly Sustainable, even in the Form of Fast Foods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-22, September.
    13. Richard Bärnthaler & Andreas Novy & Lea Arzberger & Astrid Krisch & Hans Volmary, 2024. "The power to transform structures: power complexes and the challenges for realising a wellbeing economy," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.
    14. Bertrand Noiret, 2016. "Food Security in a Changing Climate: A Plea for Ambitious Action and Inclusive Development," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 59(3), pages 237-242, December.
    15. Marwah M. Hassounah & Abdulmohsen H. Al-Zalabani & Mohammed D. AlAhmari & Afraa A. Murriky & Anwar M. Makeen & Abdullah M.M. Alanazi, 2020. "Implementation of Cigarette Plain Packaging: Triadic Reactions of Consumers, State Officials, and Tobacco Companies—The Case of Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-14, April.
    16. Ediger, Volkan Ş. & Kirkil, Gokhan & Çelebi, Emre & Ucal, Meltem & Kentmen-Çin, Çiğdem, 2018. "Turkish public preferences for energy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 492-502.
    17. Moeinaddini, Amin & Habibian, Meeghat, 2024. "Acceptability of transportation demand management policy packages considering interactions and socio-economic heterogeneity," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    18. Rodríguez-Barillas, María & Klerkx, Laurens & Poortvliet, P. Marijn, 2024. "What determines the acceptance of Climate Smart Technologies? The influence of farmers' behavioral drivers in connection with the policy environment," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    19. Thomas Bøker Lund & David Watson & Sinne Smed & Lotte Holm & Thomas Eisler & Annemette Nielsen, 2017. "The Diet-related GHG Index: construction and validation of a brief questionnaire-based index," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 503-517, February.
    20. Hössinger, Reinhard & Peer, Stefanie & Juschten, Maria, 2023. "Give citizens a task: An innovative tool to compose policy bundles that reach the climate goal," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:109:y:2022:i:c:s0306919222000173. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.