On Wednesday 13th November at the Houses of Parliament, the Vegetarian Society hosted a packed reception to present how Denmark plans to achieve a groundbreaking transition to a healthy and sustainable food system.
An invited audience of nearly 100 guests heard from speakers Rune-Christoffer Dragsdahl, CEO of the Danish Vegetarian Society, Rasmus Prehn DMP, former Danish food minister and Daniel Zeichner MP, Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The Minister spoke briefly about the food system and the need to provide healthy and sustainable choices in line with the Eatwell Guide, but that government’s role was not to tell people what to eat. The audience was made up of MPs, members of the House of Lords and representatives from across the food and farming sector.
Guests saw how Denmark’s unique collaborative approach paves the way for an increase in low carbon organic farming and plant-based consumption. The Danish programme which has attracted 115m euros of government funding over eight years supports a range of initiatives to decarbonise the food system and improve public health.
Denmark has a history of consuming more meat per capita than all but a handful of countries. Denmark has also been one of the world’s major meat exporters, with the Danish Crown Group alone being the world’s largest pork exporter and Europe’s largest pork producer.
However, under their new National Plant-based Plan there is a new focus on fresh, healthy, and low-carbon food sourced from Danish farms being supplied directly to public kitchens, while new infrastructure and funding from government is in place to increase plant food consumption and drive plant-product innovation.
As a key meat and dairy producer Denmark is determined to model best practice in terms of balancing its agricultural output. The plan is to create a sustainable approach across the agricultural sector and to focus on sustainable food exports also.
At the core of the initiative is a set of new revised national healthy eating guidelines designed by public health officials which place a greater emphasis on plant protein and fruit and vegetable consumption and encourage the public to eat not only more sustainably, but more healthily.
Jen Elford, Head of Policy and External Affairs at the Vegetarian Society, said: “It was clearly an inspiring afternoon for everyone who attended, and the Vegetarian Society will play a leading role going forward holding the space open for dialogue on our sustainable food future.”
For more information about the National Plant-Based Action Plan and the reception, please visit https://vegsoc.org/what-we-do-policy-work-parliamentary-reception/
