The role of meat and other animal products in Americans’ diets continues to come under fire, with activist organizations’ continued efforts to push for the introduction of meatless meals in the home, in the workplace, in school cafeterias and even in state legislatures.

The Animal Agriculture Alliance learned this week that popular Food Network, Inc. personality, Giada De Laurentis launched her 2013 season with an episode entitled “Meatless Mondays.”

According to a description of the episode on Foodtv.com,  De Laurentis prepares meatless meals every Monday night for “health” and “environmental reasons.”

“We are disappointed that a chef as popular as Ms. De Laurentis would lend her name to a movement funded and supported by radical animal rights activists,” says Animal Agriculture Alliance President and CEO Kay Johnson Smith. “We believe in consumer choice when it comes to selecting one’s meal choices, but this particular campaign is based on misleading and false information which is a disservice to America’s hard working farm families, as well as consumers.” 

Meatless Mondays is a carefully orchestrated campaign that seeks to eliminate meat from Americans’ meals seven days a week – beginning with Mondays. Organized through the Center for a Livable Future at John Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, the campaign, which is funded in large part by wealthy, long-time animal rights activist Helaine Lerner, pushes an extreme animal rights and environmental agenda by promoting false claims about animal agriculture.

The Center for a Livable Future has been associated with extremist anti-animal agriculture groups including, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Farm Sanctuary and Compassion Over Killing, and is responsible for the anti-modern farming efforts by the Global Resource Action Center for the Environment, as well as The Meatrix video series.

In another anti-meat campaign, on Jan. 15, 2013, in the Virginia State legislature, House Joint Resolution 567 was introduced at the request of Compassion Over Killing. HJR 567 called for designating the last week in April each year as “VegWeek” in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The resolution, which initially contained many completely disparaging and inaccurate claims about animal agriculture, was unanimously defeated in the Virginia House Rules Committee that same day.

“Even though HJR 567 was quickly defeated, it is efforts like these that highlight the true intent of animal rights groups to eliminate meat from every meal,” Johnson Smith explains. “It is important that consumers understand the true agenda of campaigns such as these and do their own homework so they can make informed decisions that meet their values, as well as their nutritional needs.”

To learn more about the myths and facts of the Meatless Mondays movement and for a comprehensive resource guide, visit the Animal Agriculture Alliance website.