FRAZER MAUDE: Subsidies for healthy food, plain packaging for unhealthy food, and more research into meat alternatives could help the UK's obesity crisis, according to a new report. The report - Turning The Tables - by social policy think-tank Demos, found that too many people face "significant barriers to eating healthy diets". The report recommends: A government fund for the development of lab-grown meat or meat alternatives, and subsidising healthy foods that are already low in price, such as tinned tomatoes, carrots, and frozen vegetables to make healthy options much cheaper... The…

GEORGIA SIMCOX: Vegan crimes are rising in Britain as more people choose to follow Veganism, prompting calls for the attacks to be given a special status... 172 crimes relating to Veganism happened over the past five years, with just nine in 2015 rising to 55 last year... Last year, 1.16 per cent of the population, 600,000 people, were vegan according to surveys by Ipsos Mori. It quadrupled from 150,000 in 2014... It comes after vegan Jordi Casamitjana won a landmark case after his lawyers argued that ethical Veganism satisfies the tests required for it to be a philosophical or religious…

NATHANIAL BULLARD: Global consumption of animal proteins has been rising, apparently inexorably, for the past six decades. The coronavirus pandemic has finally changed that trajectory. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that meat production—a decent proxy for consumption—dropped in 2019, and it forecasts a decline again this year. Last year was only the second since 1961 in which production fell; two consecutive years of decline is unprecedented and could be the start of something durable. We’re already at peak pasture as far as demand is concerned, and it…

FMCG NEWS GLOBAL: Forty percent of "leading" food firms, including Kroger, Tesco, Nestle and Unilever, now have dedicated teams focused on plant-based products, according to new research from collaborative investor network the FAIRR Initiative... FAIRR's research found that two in five global food giants with combined annual revenues of $459bn now have dedicated teams to develop and sell plant-based alternatives to meat and dairy, with Tesco and Unilever ranked top... The figures were published following a four-year investor engagement programme between the FAIRR Initiative and 25 large…

MIA RISHEL: Encouraging people to reduce their meat intake poses its own challenges, but a growing body of research is providing insight into the most effective ways of doing so. In this study, a group of researchers reviewed contemporary literature on interventions targeted at “conscious determinants” of behavior; in other words, the conscious system of learning and memory used to explain and predict our behavior... The review included over 25,000 observations of individuals or individual meat purchases and looked at self-monitoring and various educational interventions connecting meat…

MARIA CHIORANDO: A cornerstone nutritional report which will inform the next five years of federal dietary guidance has been criticized for failing to warn against the dangers of dairy consumption. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's (DGAC) scientific report, which was compiled the Committee's 20 health expert members, reviews the latest dietary and nutrition research. It will be used by the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. While the report was praised for recommending that Americans should opt for…

ANIMAL PLACE: The critical issues affecting farmed animals are only increasing during this global pandemic, and as animal activists, vegans, environmentalists, and plant-based eaters we know we must do more. But what? And how? Join the Farmed Animal Conference E-Summit (FACES) August 3-9. This FREE online event about the future of the farmed animal movement is sponsored by Animal Place and Plant Based Network, and features activists, scientists, authors, filmmakers and other impactful voices in the farmed animal movement! Topics include farmed animal behavior, the role of sanctuaries as…

LIZZIE THOMSON: Would some extra cash persuade you to change your eating habits? A company is offering to pay meat lovers £2,000 each to go vegan for a month. Research agency VeganLiftz has revealed it’s looking to recruit three meat eaters who are willing to go plant-based for a month, to highlight the benefits of a vegan diet. Anyone interested needs to live in Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham, Liverpool or London – as these cities have been found to have the most meat-eaters... Jason Hughes, founder of VeganLiftz.com, said: ‘Our main aim at VeganLiftz.com is to debunk any myths out there…

KENDRA COULTER: Corporate animal agriculture is in crisis, and its days are numbered. Factory farming and industrialized animal slaughtering are being recognized as dangerous for workers’ health, as potential causes of the next pandemic and as both ethically and environmentally unsustainable. Early numbers suggest noteworthy increases in the purchase of plant-based foods during the pandemic. New vegan products are being brought to market almost weekly. And advancements in cultured “clean” meat may soon result in mass production. These technological innovations mean that meat can be created…

JADE SCIPIONI: What does the founder and CEO of Impossible Foods have to say to critics who say his and other plant-based burgers are really just vegan junk food? “It’s bulls----,” Pat Brown tells CNBC Make It. Impossible Foods, along with Beyond Meat and other plant-based meat competitors, tout their products as healthy alternatives to animal protein. And people are eating it up, literally — according to new data from Nielsen, sales of plant-based meat alternatives have grown nearly 25% from July 11, 2019 to July 11, 2020, bringing in roughly $601.4 million in sales during that period. But…