Adding graphic, cigarette pack-style warnings to meat-based meals would only represent a move towards a draconian society, Bev Turner has suggested.
The GB News host lamented research from Durham University scientists that suggested a way in which meat consumption could be cut.
The research coincided with World Vegan Day, a day celebrated by meat and dairy free activists amid calls for more to shun dietary habits.
Bev Turner waded in on a GB News discussion on the matter, saying we “shouldn’t be told” what to eat.
Journalist Dawn Neesom admitted to not eating meat for 40 years, but says people should not be dictating what others can and cannot eat.
“I don’t eat meat. I haven’t done for 40 years”, she said.
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“It’s not for animal cruelty reasons, I just don’t like it very much and health reasons for me.
“But I don’t think we should be here saying ‘you shouldn’t eat this, you shouldn’t eat that’.
“I don’t have a problem with people eating meat. I just think everything in moderation.”
The cigarette pack-style warning label used for the study suggested eating meat ‘contributes to climate change’.
Almost three-quarters of the UK populations eats meat, and the Climate Change Committee, which advises the UK Government, says Brits need to cut their meat and dairy consumption by 20 per cent if the country is to remain on track for its climate goals.
The study’s lead author, Jack Hughes, says introducing warning labels could help reduce meat consumption in Britain, as evidenced with the decline in smoking.
Senior author on the paper Dr Milica Vasiljevic, from Durham University's Department of Psychology, said: "We already know that eating a lot of meat, especially red and processed meat, is bad for your health and that it contributes to deaths from pollution and climate change.
"Adding warning labels to meat products could be one way to reduce these risks to health and the environment."
The NHS says meat is a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals in an individuals’s diet.
However, the service has recommended cutting down to 70g per day of red or processed meat for health reasons.
