The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has retracted a suggestion that employees consider “Meatless Mondays” after the cattlemen industry reacted angrily to the idea.

 

In a recent internal newsletter, the USDA suggested ways for workers to reduce energy use and waste. One of the suggestions involved participating in Meatless Mondays, an international event created by the nonprofit group The Monday Campaigns and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

 

Groups representing the meat industry gave USDA officials an earful over the idea.

 

“This is truly an awakening statement by USDA, which strongly indicates that USDA does not understand the efforts being made in rural America to produce food and fiber for a growing global population in a very sustainable way,” J.D. Alexander, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said in a prepared statement.

 

The USDA pulled the newsletter from its website. In a formal statement, the agency said it “does not endorse Meatless Monday,” adding the newsletter was published “without proper clearance.”

 

Meatless Mondays has been promoted by environmentalists and opponents of global warming as a way for ranchers to reduce energy consumption as well as pesticides and water use.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

To Learn More:

USDA Says It Never Meant To Endorse ‘Meatless Mondays’ (by Kedar Pavgi, Government Executive)