An eco-warrior politician has sparked outrage in Denmark after she defended guidelines limiting residents of government-run nursing homes to just 2.8 ounces of beef a week — which is less than one Big Mac.
Birgitte Kehler Holst of the left-wing green Danish party The Alternative was also accused of saying old people in nursing homes should be “punished” by restricting their meat intake in comments made in a meeting of Copenhagen’s City Council on April 30.
She was speaking against plans to exclude nursing home residents from guidelines in the Danish capital that restrict meals at government-run sites to just 2.8 ounces (80 grams) of beef, lamb, or veal per week.
That is less than the amount of beef in a standard McDonald’s Big Mac, which contains two 1.6-ounce beef patties — for a total of 3.2 ounces.
“Everyone, including the elderly, must contribute to achieving our climate goals,” Holst said at the city council meeting, adding, “It is precisely the generation that has screwed up the most.”
Danish politician Birgitte Kehler Holst sparked outrage after saying old people should eat less meat because they “screwed up the most.” SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Her comments sparked outrage among commentators in Denmark and elsewhere, with many accusing her of trying to punish the elderly and force through a vegetarian agenda.
One politician shared a picture of the daily beef ration in his hand to show just how little it was.
“11.4 grams of beef. That’s how much nursing home residents in Copenhagen Municipality are allowed to eat per day, to avoid exceeding the weekly limit of 80 grams,” wrote Malte Larsen of the right-wing populist Danish People’s Party on X.
A Danish politician shared a picture of the 11.4 grams daily beef ration recommended in Danish nursing homes. “According to a politician from The Alternative, it’s because our elderly have been the biggest climate sinners throughout their lives. And therefore, they must be punished,” he added.
Larsen also ripped the rhetoric of “self-righteous climate fanatics” as “grotesque,” adding that it was a pointless gesture.
“No, we’re not saving the entire world by having our elderly eat only 11.4 grams of beef per day. Denmark emits 0.1% of the world’s human-caused CO2,” he added, hitting out at the hypocrisy of many climate activists.
“Many of these climate fanatics who implement this kind of draconian climate measure have no problem flying back and forth to attend irrelevant climate conferences,” he said.
Mona Juul of the center-right Conservative People’s Party also hit out at the measure for punishing old people.
“[Holst] apparently believes that nursing home residents should not be given meat because they have been ‘pigs’ their whole lives. Therefore, they should have lentils instead of meat,” she wrote on Facebook.
Holst subsequently apologized for speaking rashly, although she doubled down on her insistence that people eat less meat.
“I made a slightly too hasty comment from the podium, and I’m sorry about that,” she told Danish newspaper BT.
“But I find it fundamentally unproblematic that our elderly citizens – like the rest of Copenhageners – are served healthy, tasty and organic food that follows the Danish dietary guidelines,” she added.
The average American eats between 59 and 83 pounds of beef annually, or between 1 to 1.6 pounds a week.
That works out as more than six times the guidelines in Danish nursing homes.
