There is a lot of disinformation and far too many fake news about meat, held by health-oriented people and vegans/vegetarians. Meat has been attacked for years by ideological campaigns and by those who have interest in collapsing its consumption by spreading pseudoscientific arguments, which unfortunately attract the consumer who is not qualified on these topics. But what are the most striking fake news on the Web? Here are four of them.

• Meat is full of hormones and antibiotics

This falsehood is unfortunately deeply rooted in the consumer’s thinking, which is still wary when it comes to the use of these substances in farms, especially when chickens are much bigger than the past or when we see images of many animals stored in intensive farms, which presuppose the need to administer drugs to prevent disease. While in other continents, like America, hormones and antibiotics are widely used, in Europe and especially in Italy the rules on their use are very rigid and the controls are severe. Hormones have been forbidden in Europe for 36 years, such as the use of antibiotics for preventive purposes, banned in Europe since 2006. Today’s animals grow more and more rapidly than in the past through genetic selection and fast-growing crossbreeding, to meet market demands.

Using hormones for this purpose is not only forbidden but is not economically advantageous for the breeder because they are very expensive and should not be used. Medicines and antibiotics can instead be used, but their use is subject to precise rules. Groups of ethologists and veterinarians have studied and developed a whole range of animal welfare standards to ensure that the minimum conditions are met so that animals do not suffer, so as to avoid drug administration. It is in the interest of the breeder to respect the welfare and hygienic conditions of the breeding, in order to obtain a high-quality product.

These minimum conditions of intensive farming become wider in other forms of livestock farming, further contributing to greater livestock wellbeing. If the administration of the drug becomes necessary for a suspected infection, this is given to all animals, respecting the doses and times of administration, which are designed with the aim of not having significant residues in the meat. In addition, just to double check, a certain period of time is awaited before slaughter of animals (called “suspension period”), that is the time necessary to bring back the residual levels of the drug within the limits guaranteed safe for human health. These limits are set by law even in quantities 100 times lower than the doses considered safe so that they do not have any effect on human health, even if they are ingested every day. The controls in Italy are numerous and without warning, more scrupulous than any other European country, and there is zero tolerance. For this reason, “Made in Italy” is an absolute guarantee of health and quality.

• Eating meat is always bad and you can live without it

False. There is no study that proves that eating meat even in small quantities is harmful to health. On the contrary, the benefits of a complete diet that include it are scientifically undisputable not only from a nutritional point of view but also from the environmental point of view. Can you live without it anyway? Sure, but it is necessary to integrate its lack with other animal products such as eggs first, milk and derivatives, and in some cases taking vitamin and mineral supplements. Meat is like an energy bar full of high-absorption nutrients, which provides amount of elements necessary for the growth, development, maintenance, defense and repair of our body, that no other food alone is able to give.

• Meat is a piece of decomposing dead animal

When it comes to meat, it is very easy to attack it using terms such as “decomposition”, “putrescine”, “cadaverine”. In fact, all the food we ingest is no longer alive. Meat is subjected to a “maturing” period, a process that makes meat tenderer and tasty. Just like soaking the legumes in order to make them more digestible or how to ferment soy to deactivate dangerous anti-nutrients for our health, meat is also subjected to treatments to gain all the benefits. Substances such as putrescine and cadaverine are not prerogatives of meat but are also present in plant food. Cadaverine is also present in legumes, while putrescine is in both animal and vegetable proteins. However, these are substances normally produced in our cells and low in toxicity but, given their evocative name recalling the terms “putrefaction” and “cadaver”, they are used ad hoc to discourage the consumption of meat once again.

• Meat causes cancer

False. Cancer has no single cause, but many: first of all, genetic predisposition, but also environmental factors such as pollution, and behavioural factors, such as lifestyle. The World Health Organization (WHO) has never said that meat causes cancer. Regarding red meat that the WHO has put into the group of probable carcinogens, thus exempting white meat, there is not enough evidence to establish that they can cause cancer. There is more evidence on processed meat, but the risk of developing colon-rectal cancer remains low, and increases with the amount of meat consumed. It has also been shown that vitamin C in combination with processed red meat neutralizes the formation of nitrosamines, with a good anti-cancer protective effect.

It also seems that the studies examined by the WHO refer to the consumption of Anglo-Saxon products, where eating habits are very different from the Mediterranean lifestyle, and the processing methods of meat are far from the quality standards of the made in Italy products. The question is still under consideration, but enough to make it clear that it makes no sense to give up eating meat, just choose it of good quality, and our products are a guarantee in this, eating it in moderation and in combination with protective foods.

The Sustainable Meat Project