AHDB has launched a complaint to a communications regulator over a documentary which has caused outrage in the agricultural community.

AHDB said it has made the complaint to the Office of Communications (Ofcom) regarding Channel 4's The Big British Beef Battle presented by Paralympian and writer Ade Adepitan.

The programme has been squarely refuted by the farming community who are angry at the 'inaccurate portrayal' of the beef sector. Several complaints have now been lodged with media watchdog OFCOM.

Mr Adepitan said he wanted to ‘change minds and people's culture' regarding the consumption of beef.

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The gold medal Paralympian also highlighted his ambition to stop ‘everyone in the UK' from eating beef due to the ‘greenhouse gases' produced by cows and to, instead, eat more chicken.

During the documentary, Mr Adepitan said: "Beef is diseasing the planet. I am squaring up to a British institution.

"But do not worry, you can still eat chicken. I think of the future where we have unpredictable weather, refugee crisis and resource wars over water.

"I am trying to find solutions and make a difference. I could stop flying, become a vegan, stop washing, or give up fast fashion.

"I want to make the biggest difference and I have found what I am looking for which means I have to give up meat."

AHDB said they had a number of concerns regarding the way evidence related to livestock emissions was presented.

"We have issued a complaint to Ofcom highlighting the programme was incredibly biased against beef with very limited scientific evidence," a spokesperson added.

"There was undue focus on the global situation and the presenter's opinions against beef were too apparent and forthright.

"As has often been seen with programmes such as this one, the argument very much focused on referring to average global emissions and intensive, feedlot-style production, when in reality, the conversation and science have moved on considerably.

"The programme made little mention of the UK's extensive production, which relies predominantly on grass as a main source of feed for livestock and provides a number of benefits for nature, land management and climate action.

"Nor did it mention Global Warming Potential, which demonstrates a very different take on the warming impact for UK livestock.

"We are unaware of any attempt made to contact AHDB or any other agricultural organisation, therefore failing to provide the opportunity for the UK beef industry to contribute to such a damning programme."

BMPA’s Sustainability Manager, Lucas Daglish explained: “In my opinion, it’s a poorly researched and thin argument for removing beef from the UK diet and lacks any awareness of the issues and trade-offs that need to be considered.

“There is little thought or content given to the nutritional benefits of beef consumption for vulnerable groups or the role grazing livestock have in improving soil health, improving biodiversity, reducing the use of chemical fertilisers etc which underpins the latest regenerative agriculture trends.

“It appears that most of the statistics used in the programme are weak and inaccurate, for example, beef GHG emissions (60kg of CO2e per KG of beef) are global averages (Poore and Nemecek 2018) and exclude any soil carbon sequestration for grassland. Nor is there any mention of marginal farmland not suited to arable cultivation that should be used as grazing for food production. It’s disappointing that such a badly put together programme was broadcast by Channel 4”.