A VEGAN campaign against meat and dairy advertising has been rebuffed by the Advertising Standards Authority, which ruled in favour of the fact that livestock products are a 'natural' source of protein and vitamin B12.

The AHDB's 'We Eat Balanced' campaign, running across TV, print and social media over January and February this year, was widely perceived by the vegan lobby as livestock farming's fightback against its promotion of 'veganuary' – and thus attracted complaints from the the Vegan Society, Compassion in World Farming UK, and PETA, amongst others, with some directing their supporters to contact the ASA through website links, resulting in 487 complaints in all.

Key to the vegans' argument was their assertion that livestock farming isn't 'natural', and that there are 'natural' plant sources of protein and B12. The complaints also took issue with 'We Eat Balanced's description of red meat and dairy being produced from rainwater and plants that humans cannot eat, with much reference made to soya imports for animal feed.

However, the ASA this week firmly rejected all complaints against the AHDB campaign, backing its factual basis and use of words: "We considered that the claim 'a food so natural that it takes the rain from the sky and the plants we humans cannot eat' alongside the scenery of rolling fields, and rain falling on grass, was likely to be understood to mean that the animals in the ads converted water and energy from plants such as grass into simple foods that did not contain additives and reached consumers in a state that had been subject to minimal processing.

"Given that the foodstuffs being promoted were unprocessed beef, pork, and lamb, and dairy products of a traditional nature subject to minimal processing such as milk and cheese, we considered they were likely to be in line with consumer expectations of 'natural'," said the ASA.

The AHDB’s Chief Communications and Market Development Officer, a clearly delighted Christine Watts, said: “For British farming this is an important day as we can continue to communicate the benefits around consuming red meat and dairy as part of a balanced diet. We work hard to ensure our campaigns are robust and evidence-based.

“We are now focused on preparing for the next stage of our campaign, which will launch later this year, tapping into consumer trends around diet, health and environmental sustainability.”

The 'We Eat Balanced' campaign has been nominated for The Food and Drink Federation's 'Campaign of the Year' award.