A college has been forced to apologise after it imposed a “sustainable” vegan menu prompting backlash from the agricultural community.
Bishop Burton College in Beverley, East Yorkshire, which provides courses for in farming, shared a Facebook post challenging students to go vegan for a month.
In the post, the college urged students to join its “meat-free Mondays” scheme as part of a push for students to try Veganuary – a challenge run by a charity which encourages people to give up all animal products for the first month of the year.
The Beverly college said it was doing so to “promote a healthy diet contributing to good mental health as well as sustainability”.
Woke farming college apologises after imposing ‘sustainable’ vegan menu
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The post, which also promoted the “Wellbeing Wednesdays” campaign, resulted in an outpouring of outrage from both the students and the farming community.
Enraged farmers slammed the institution, who they claim should be “banging the drum” for the industry, instead of “promoting” veganism.
Max Robinson, 16, studying for a T-Level in livestock agriculture at the college, said: “Students such as myself who are from agricultural families are shocked by this outrageous decision. They have no right to only offer vegan options and no meat-based alternatives.
“The college should focus on its agriculture heritage and instead be supporting British farmers.”
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Veganuary is a challenge run by a charity which encourages people to give up all animal products for the first month of the year
GettyOlly Harrison, 42, a cereal farmer near Liverpool, said: “It’s regarded as a good agriculture college but it has now lost a lot of respect from current and past students.
“They should be banging the drum for it [meat farming] not doing it the other way round. The staff there need to remember where their wages come from.”
Anna Longthorp, 41, an alumni of the college and now a nearby farmer slammed the move.
She said: “The post insinuated that veganism is healthier and promotes good mental health and sustainability. I find it outrageous that an agricultural college is not just implying but promoting this message.”
The backlash from across the farming community led to the post being taken down. The principal Bill Meredith later published an apology.
It read: “Bishop Burton College would like to address the response to its social media post about serving plant-based meals in one of its food outlets this January. We fully recognise and apologise for the impression this gave to our wider farming community, stakeholders, students past, present and future.
“We have always made sure we offer meat and plant-based options, something we have been doing as a college for many years - offering choice to all.
“As a specialist land-based college, our core business is agriculture, and we recognise the importance of livestock production to sustainable farming systems and to a healthy balanced diet.”
The backlash from across the farming community led to the post being taken down, and the principal Bill Meredith published an apology.
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A recent study has claimed that vegan food alternatives at fast-food restaurants are no healthier than their meat counterparts.
After comparing options at different fast-food chains around the world, the researchers at the Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poland concluded that there was no health benefit to choosing the meat-free alternative.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, director of external affairs for The Countryside Alliance, a campaign group which promotes rural farming, said: “In reality, it sends an utterly false message that livestock farming and the consumption of meat and dairy are incompatible with fighting climate change. British farmers are part of the solution to climate change, not the problem.”
However, many still champion the health and environmental benefits of a vegan diet.
Marco Springmann, a senior researcher of public health at the University of Oxford, said: “We’ve found that the vegan diet could be one of the healthiest diets, outperforming pescatarian and vegetarian, because the vegan diet is higher in fruit, vegetables and legumes and the health benefits from this compensate anything else.”
The Veganuary charity shared the benefits of participating in a plant-based diet online. They said the most commonly reported benefits of it were; “increased energy, improved mood, better skin, lower cholesterol, desired change in body weight, and better skills in the kitchen.”