A second serving of the kranjska klobasa, bograč or goveji golaž*? Not for me, thanks – too much meat-heavy Slovenian fare is no longer considered healthy. The central European nation has become the latest country to recommend a cap on meat consumption, advising citizens to eat no more than 300 g a week and to adopt a plant-based diet high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and pulses.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food last month published new nutrition guidelines – reviewed by an international panel including a Harvard professor and researchers from Oxford team – that rein in Slovenians’ appetite for meat. In fact, the guidelines, “based on the best available scientific evidence and contemporary understanding of the relationship between nutrition, health and sustainable development”, conclude there is no specific health benefit to eating any type of meat at all – not a krvavice (blood sausage).
The 300 g cap is the equivalent of one large steak or three chicken breasts a week, and applies to all meat combined. The ministry’s preference is that red and processed meats – whether smoked, salted, cured or preserved with chemicals – be kept to a minimum. Slovenian men currently eat an average of 261 g of meat and processed meat, but not ever week – every day. Women consume an average of 169 g daily.
Slovenia is following in the healthy footsteps of Denmark, which in 2023 introduced the world’s first national action plan for a plant-based food system, and South Korea, which published its own plant-based strategy days later. Austria‘s guidelines recommend a plate that is half fruit and vegetables; and Switzerland is mapping out an eight-year plan to wean its citizens off meat and animal products altogether.
Red and processed meat are linked in the guidelines to an increased risk of colorectal cancer, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, with the World Health Organization classifying processed meat as carcinogenic and red meat as probably carcinogenic. Beef gets a particularly rough ride on environmental grounds, with the highest land and water footprint of all foods and the highest greenhouse gas emissions.
* Carniolan pork sausage, stew with several different meats or beef goulash