Vegans Lobby Aussie Officials

Animal-welfare organizations Vegan Australia and the Vegan Society of New South Wales are urging the federal government to amend outdated Australian dietary guidelines to be more vegan- and vegetarian-friendly. An updated version of the guidelines, some of which are almost 10 years old, is due for release later this year, pending government review. In light of the upcoming revisions, the organizations are asking government officials to consider replacing the title of the guideline’s fourth food group, currently designated as “lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans,” with the more general title “protein.” The groups say, “We strongly believe that the guidelines, in their current format, are woefully inadequate as they do not consider the way a food is sourced or its method of production.”