• Question: Do you think it is ethically acceptable to eat meat or should we be looking for other ways to feed ourselves?

    Asked by Kei_Rite to Andrew, Dilip, Emma, John, Ruth on 9 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Emma Feeney

      Emma Feeney answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      I don’t personally eat meat, for ethical reasons, so to me, no it’s not ethically acceptable. We should be looking for other ways to feed ourselves yes, but we don’t need to! There are plenty of protein-rich food sources already available to us, in the form of eggs, cheese, peas beans and lentils, as well as meat alternatives like Quorn made from mycoprotein, without us having to eat meat.

    • Photo: John Gleeson

      John Gleeson answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      Bioethics is a really interesting area of food science! I believe that it is ethical to eat ethical sourced and raised meat. That means the animals are raised in an environment that offers them a life beyond just being meat. Free range would be an example of this. This is generally more expensive, but I’d rather know the animal had a better life if I’m choosing to consume meat. However with the growing population we do need to look towards alternative sources of protein such as insects. Is it ethical to eat insects? 🙂

      Also you must take food sovereignty into account. That is the right for people to have healthy and culturally approiate food produced through ecologically and sustainable means. Some cultures traditionally have a more plant based diet, others more meat based. And we must respect culture.

    • Photo: Ruth Hamill

      Ruth Hamill answered on 9 Nov 2015:

      Yes, I do feel it is ethically acceptable to eat meat. I believe its important to have high standards of animal welfare, food safety, environmental standards and traceability though.

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