Animal Rebellion: Activists want meat cut from Wales' school dinners

Activists Animal Rebellion are urging councils to drop meat from school dinners at least two days a week.

The group is lobbying councils across the UK and claims to have persuaded one in England to sign up.

Member Dave France, from Welshpool, Powys, claimed children had record levels of "eco-anxiety".

But a critic dismissed it as ignoring evidence, and Wales' education minister has insisted meat should always be a school option.

Mr France said: "We feel that kids are experiencing record high levels of eco-anxiety, and that animal agriculture can contribute to the climate crisis.

"The only future is a plant-based future, that's what the science is telling us. It's an easy change to make and the next generation will feel that the obvious place to start is in schools."

Mr France said he understood the impact going meat-free could have in rural areas.

"We don't want to just turn off the tap and make people suffer," he said.

"Currently a lot of farming is subsidised, there is no reason why these subsidies cannot be put into sustainable forms of agriculture."

The campaign follows a row in Pembrokeshire sparked by the council issuing a memo advising staff to eat less meat and dairy to cut their environmental impact.

That has now been recalled.

The Countryside Alliance in Wales worried about the pressure put on local governments by groups like Animal Rebellion.

Director Rachel Evans said: "They want to stop animal farming, and to start that by getting rid of red meat from school menus."

She said it was not a matter of eating less meat but of ensuring meat eaten was locally produced.

"And it should be parents who should choose what their children eat, not councils or governments," Ms Evans said.

Pembrokeshire county councillor John Davies accused the campaign of ignoring context and facts.

He said: "'Don't eat red meat' is an unfinished sentence. It should be 'Don't eat red meat which has travelled from far afield, like South America'.

"It is fashionable now to talk about plant-based diets, but the rhetoric is out of context here in Wales."

Wales Education Minister Jeremy Miles has insisted meat should always be available in school canteens.

He said: "Vegetarian and vegan diets are a choice for children and young people, and we provide advice to local authorities on how to cater for these diets.

"However, we do not support completely removing the meat option from school lunch menus."