A tax on meat and meat productions would not only limit how much meat people ate but would also cut soaring spending on healthcare, according to campaign group Tapp (true animal protein price) Coalitie.

Research by Wageningen University on behalf of the group and the vegetarian society Vegetariërsbond suggests the over-consumption of meat leads to €1.1 billion in extra healthcare costs a year.

Some 253,000 people develop diabetes, 100,000 develop colon cancer and 20,000 heart and artery disease because they eat too much meat, the research suggests.

‘These care costs are carried by us all via higher premiums,’ Tapp director Jeroom Remmers told the AD.

The research is based on the recommended consumption of six kilos of red meat per person per year in line with the Global Burden of Disease calculations, while the Dutch eat an average of 30 kilos. The amount of money needed to offset the additional care costs would be the equivalent of €7.50 per kilo.

The issue of a tax on meat is a sensitive one in political circles but has been suggested as a way of cutting greenhouse gas emissions because livestock farming is highly polluting. Two of the four coalition parties are, however, opposed to such a tax.

Unrealistic

The Tapp Coalitie itself admits such a price rise is unrealistic, but suggests a €5.70 tax per kilo on beef and processed meat, €4.50 on pork and €2 on chicken would be a way forward.

Wageningen University professor Ellen Kampman told the paper there is sufficient evidence to show that eating red and processed meat increases the risk of developing colon cancer. ‘If we would eat less meat, we would stop a lot of problems,’ she said.

Nevertheless, she said, she is not necessarily a supporter of a tax on meat because it does contain essential ingredients for a healthy diet. ‘A well-read vegan can replace them, but not everyone is in a position to do so,’ she said.