AHDB has been rapped by the ASA over claims made about British beef and dairy’s carbon emissions.
The watchdog said that claims made in two of the levy board’s ads breached rules over misleading advertising, substantiation and environmental claims.
The ads were part of its ‘Let’s Eat Balanced’ campaign, launched to inform consumers about the benefits of red meat and dairy as part of a healthy, balanced diets, showing “nutrition, provenance and farming standards”. They ran from September 2024 to February 2025.
The complaints were made by TV presenter and environmental campaigner Chris Packham, and covered issues spanning a range of adverts, including those shown on national television.
Packham challenged whether the ads were misleading as they did not reflect the full environmental impact of British meat and dairy, whether claims made in some ads were misleading and could be substantiated and whether some of the ads misleadingly implied that cows used to produce beef and milk in the UK were typically outdoor grazed.
The only part of the complaint to be upheld related to a technical footnote in two newspaper adverts, AHDB said.
The ads said: “British beef … has a carbon footprint that’s half the global average” and “British milk… is produced to world-class standards and has a carbon footprint a third lower than the global average”.
Both ads included a footnote that stated: “Full life cycle emissions of CO2 eq per kg of beef/milk”.
The ASA concluded that because these lifecycle assessments represented emissions from ”cradle to retail”, the adverts should have specified this limitation more clearly.
Additionally, the data provided by AHDB had not considered emissions produced after the retail stage due to the high variability and lack of data. While the ASA recognised these potential difficulties, “the claims in the ads suggested those emissions were included and we therefore expected the evidence provided to also include them”.
Under ASA rules, environmental claims must reflect the full lifecycle up to disposal or clearly state where data boundaries end.
“Since the investigation began, we have conducted independent consumer research which found that the majority of respondents interpreted these adverts as relating to the production phase only, from farm to retail,” said Will Jackson, AHDB director of communications and market development.
“This research provides important insight into consumer understanding and supports our belief that consumers were not misled by the information we shared in these two specific adverts.”
On the other complaints, the ASA found that imagery of grassy fields and of cows grazing in green pastures would have been taken as a “generic reflection of how some cows were farmed in the UK”.
It added that Defra data around cattle grazing, which found that only 4% of cattle farmers housed their cows all year round, showed that images were “unlikely to mislead”.
Based on this judgment, the complaints were not upheld.
“This ruling shows that the campaign’s core claims were robust and therefore upheld,” added Jackson. “AHDB stood firmly behind the evidence, and subsequently British beef, lamb and dairy production have been represented responsibly and fairly.
“We understand Chris Packham has a passion for campaigning to protect the environment, and he can be reassured by this ruling that the information we share with consumers is supported by sound science.”
The campaign will return this autumn.
The decision by the ASA was supported by meat industry body AIMS. Tony Goodger, its head of communications, said the decision showed “that despite challenges from self-appointed ’celebrity’ environmental commentators, that strong evidence-based messages in respect to balanced diets have a firm place within the national diet and environment conversation”.
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