Overseas research that has financially modelled the implementation of a meat tax has spurred heated opposition in local circles.
Researchers from Oxford University have raised the idea of a meat tax - likening its public health impact to that of tobacco - after analysing the risks of red and processed meat in developing a chronic disease, and the cost of treatments.
In 2015 the World Health Organisation declared processed red meat to be a carcinogen and unprocessed red meat such as steak and chops to be probable carcinogens. Eating red meat has also been linked to heart disease, strokes and diabetes.
The study, Health-motivated taxes on red and processed meat: A modelling study on optimal tax levels and associated health impacts, was conducted by the Oxford Martin School and the Nuffield Department of Population Health, and was published in the journal PLoS One.
It focused on optimal levels of taxation for red and processed meat in 149 world regions, to account for the cost burden on healthcare systems and spur changes in consumption patterns.
The researchers claim that in 2020 there will be 2.4 million deaths attributable to red and processed meat consumption, as well as $285 billion in costs related to healthcare. A tax on meat, they wrote, could prevent 220,000 deaths globally each year, and save over $US40 billion in healthcare costs.
Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud dismissed the research saying, “Comparing red meat to cigarettes is ridiculous, these institutions aren’t living in the real world but instead make findings without a lead of reality.”
Minister Littleproud said that the government should not dictate diet as its role is to give people the relevant information and let them choose for themselves.
“People have to take responsibility for what they put in their mouths not the government,” Littleproud said. “I don’t tell people what they should eat. People can make up their own minds and government should stay out of their lives.”
Meat is not the only industry in the crosshairs, with several countries adopting taxes on sugar and sugary foods and drinks.
