Media release:

New government dietary guidelines are unfair to vegans, say vegan groups in their submission on the draft Australian Dietary Guidelines.

"The new guidelines should acknowledge and support the great number of Australians who for animal rights, environmental, health, religious and other reasons, eat plant-based diets," said Greg McFarlane, Director of Vegan Australia.

"The current guidance on vegan diets is discriminatory to these groups of Australians," said McFarlane.

"The draft dietary guidelines regrettably serve to reinforce the completely unnecessary abuse and suffering of animals who are raised and killed each year to be eaten."

"The new national dietary guidelines must include consideration of the wellbeing and rights of animals."

The vegan groups' submission also recommends that:

• The Australian Dietary Guidelines emphasise the health and other benefits of plant-based diets.
• The guidelines should be reworded to remove the negative image given of plant-based diets.
• The NHMRC should exclude any studies on calcium and osteoporosis funded by the dairy industry as they may be biased and instead examine the evidence that plant foods are a better source of nutrients than milk.
• Environmental sustainability should be a major focus of the guidelines, in particular by taking into account the large negative impact that farmed animal industries have on the environment and climate change.
• The guidelines should not be influenced by food industry lobby groups or any other group with a financial interest.

Media contact: Greg McFarlane