Why meat is becoming the new tobacco – EFANews
I was interviewed by EFA News on the decision by the city of Amsterdam to ban advertising for meat and meat products in public spaces. The measure marks a new step in the European debate on public health, environmental sustainability, and freedom of choice, and confirms a regulatory trajectory already underway elsewhere, particularly in the United Kingdom.
Read the full interview here on EFANews >>>
Why meat is becoming the new tobacco
For years, I have argued that food has become the new tobacco. Not because of comparable health risks, but because of the political method being applied to it. The pattern is increasingly clear: first, certain foods are culturally delegitimised; then communication and advertising are restricted; finally, market choices are indirectly steered through regulatory tools. The Amsterdam ban represents the natural evolution of an approach already tested in the UK, with restrictions on HFSS food advertising and discussions around so-called “healthy targets” for retailers.
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Environmental and public health concerns officially justify the ban introduced by the Amsterdam municipality.
- From an environmental perspective, however, greater caution and scientific rigour are needed. The idea that meat production is intrinsically incompatible with sustainability is a simplification. The methane debate is emblematic: methane from livestock is part of a relatively short biological cycle, fundamentally different from fossil CO₂ emissions.
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Treating these phenomena as equivalent leads to symbolic policies rather than effective solutions. Investing in innovation, improving agricultural practices and increasing supply-chain efficiency is legitimate and necessary; using advertising bans as an environmental scapegoat is not.
- Similar concerns apply to public health. Institutions should promote balanced diets and informed lifestyles, not discourage or demonise individual foods. Confusing excessive consumption with consumption per se means abandoning education in favour of a prescriptive approach that reduces the complexity of food to moral categories: good or bad, acceptable or discouraged.
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Ultimately, the core issue is not meat. It is the precedent. Once public authorities claim the power to decide what can or cannot be promoted in public spaces, the scope can easily expand. The risk is that this model will spread further across Europe, including through the ongoing debate around the EU’s Safe Hearts Plan, turning policies born from good intentions into a system of restrictions that weakens individual freedom and critical thinking rather than improving health or sustainability outcomes.
Why meat is becoming the new tobacco – EFANews
