The Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “clarify if it is comfortable with being involved in overtly political campaigns”, following a tweet that appeared on the agency’s Twitter account.

The farm organisation was responding to a tweet that appeared on the EPA’s Twitter account on Friday (August 25), which said: “Ready to be healthier, wealthier and more fabulous? Cut down on your red meat intake.”

The tweet – which has since been deleted from the EPA’s Twitter – went on to suggest that people should “reduce…red meat consumption slowly”, by having “veggie lunches” and going “meat free” on particular days.

The tweet also suggested that people should “be more adventurous” by trying “veggie recipes”.

The tweet was accompanied by a picture of a character from a television programme with a content facial expression, with the caption: “The planet when you reduce your meat intake.”

Responding to this tweet, ICSA president Dermot Kelleher said today (Monday, August 28): “The ICSA was taken aback to see a blatant anti-meat crusade on the EPA social media platforms in the past few days.”

Kelleher added: “The tweet from the EPA suggests cutting back on meat makes you ‘healthier, wealthier and more fabulous’, views which are subjective…and then compounds this with the misleading suggestion that food waste is a meat problem when in fact most research says it is much more pronounced with fruit and vegetables, as well as bread.

“Dishing out dietary advice is not an area the EPA should be getting into given their role as a trusted scientific referee. Perhaps it would be better as well if they didn’t use a meme.”

The ICSA president said: “The tweet might well be acceptable from a vegan or vegetarian lobby group.

“However, in the context of a body charged with environmental regulation and key data measurement in respect of climate and water, it really isn’t good judgment to be seen to be actively campaigning against Irish livestock products,” Kelleher added.

The EPA defended the advice it offered, but accepted that the tweet may have caused “confusion”.

In a statement to Agriland, the agency said: “The EPA has a responsibility to provide the public with advice on any measure that may help to protect and sustain our environment and lower carbon emissions.

“We regularly share sustainable options on social media platforms that some people might like to explore and, from time to time, this includes advice on food and food waste,” the statement added.

“We acknowledge that this particular tweet was open to interpretation. Our intention was to share helpful advice, not to cause any confusion, but we acknowledge how it may have been perceived differently.

“Therefore we decided to remove the tweet to avoid any unnecessary attention on what is a complex area. We are engaging with agricultural groups on this and we are confident that the engagement will bring clarity for all,” the EPA said.