Police officers carry out checks as a Covid curfew began in th Dutch city of Haarlem on January 23, 2021
(Picture: ANP/AFP via Getty Images)A Dutch city has become the first in the world to ban meat adverts.
Haarlem - a city 30km outside Amsterdam and home to more than 160,000 people - has taken the move in an effort to curb meat consumption and reduce the meat industry’s environmental impact.
The new rule, which comes into effect in 2024, will ban adverts of meat products in public spaces such as on billboards, buses and at bus shelters.
It has been met with backlash from the meat industry and some local councillors, who have branded it “patronising” and “going too far”.
Other parts of the Netherlands such as Amsterdam and The Hague have already agreed bans on “fossil fuel” commericals - such as adverts for holiday flights and petrol or diesel cars.
Haarlem has taken this a step further, by banning adverts of meat products as well as those endorsing the use of fossil fuels.
The motion was drawn up by the GroenLinks - ‘green left’ - party.
GroenLinks councillor Ziggy Klazes, speaking on Haarlem105 radio channel after the proposal was voted through, said: “We are not about what people are baking and roasting in their own kitchen; if people wanted to continue eating meat, fine … We can’t tell people there’s a climate crisis and encourage them to buy products that are part of the cause.
“Of course, there are a lot of people who find the decision outrageous and patronising, but there are also a lot of people who think it’s fine.
“It is a signal – if it is picked up nationally, that would only be very nice. There are many groups of GroenLinks who think it is a good idea and want to try it.”
The meat sector has expressed dismay at the ban.
A spokesman for industry body Centrale Organisatie voor de Vleessector told DutchNews: “The authorities are going too far in telling people what’s best for them.”
