Vegetarian school meals for environmental protection, concerns over negative perception of livestock products

[Agricultural, Fisheries, and Livestock Newspaper=Reporter Kim Sinji] Recently, there have been rising voices of warning that some schools in certain regions are implementing vegetarian-only meals or biased dietary education for the purpose of carbon reduction and environmental protection, which may lead to increased negative perceptions of livestock products. It has been found that some cities and provinces are implementing vegetarian meals under names such as "Green Meals," "Low-Carbon Environmental Meals," and "Climate Meals" due to growing interest in environmental protection, including carbon reduction. In fact, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has been implementing "SOS! Green Meals," which provides vegetarian meals twice a month to reduce carbon emissions, since 2021.

Planting a biased perception that meat consumption is the main culprit of environmental destruction may be inappropriate for student education. We should move towards the consumption of low-carbon certified livestock and agricultural products. Recently, there have been rising voices of warning that implementing vegetarian meals or biased dietary education in some schools in certain regions for reasons of carbon reduction and environmental protection may lead to a high level of negative perception towards livestock products. It has been found that some cities and provinces are implementing vegetarian meals under the names of 'Green Meals', 'Low-Carbon Environmental Meals', and 'Climate Meals' due to the growing interest in environmental protection including carbon reduction. In fact, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has been implementing 'SOS! Green Meals', which provides vegetarian meals twice a month to reduce carbon emissions, since 2021. The Seoul Metropolitan Office ...