Dietary guidelines
National Dietary Guidelines: Plant-Based & Meat Reduction
Notes and references tracking any country or intergovernmental body that has updated its dietary guidelines to favour plant-based proteins or de-emphasise animal protein. Focus: 2021–2026.
Key Academic & Policy References
Anna-Lena Klapp (then at ProVeg International, now TU Berlin) and co-authors assessed 95 guidelines across 100 countries. Key findings:
- 18% of guidelines do not mention plant-based protein sources at all
- 60% contain no position on vegetarian diets (including vegan)
- Only 45% mention plant-based alternatives to meat or dairy
- 5 "crucial gaps" identified: food-group classifications that exclude plant proteins, no limits on animal-sourced foods, no nutrient guidance for plant-based eaters, no mention of plant-based alternatives, and no advice on vegetarian/vegan diets
A 2025 follow-up press release from ProVeg notes these gaps remain largely unfilled ahead of COP30.
Also relevant: Wyma et al., 2025 — covers African dietary guidelines context.
Countries / Regions
France 🇫🇷
Status: Guidelines updated (delayed release ~2023–2024)
The French National Nutrition and Health Programme (PNNS) and the National Strategy for Food, Nutrition and Climate (SNANC) underwent a contentious revision process. The agriculture ministry preferred the word "limitation" for meat consumption; the environment ministry wanted "reduction." The guidelines eventually came out recommending:
- Limit red meat to a maximum of 500g/week and processed meat to 150g/week
- Actively reduce intake of imported meat
- Increase the share of plant-based proteins in the diet
Sources:
- After Years of Infighting, France Urges Its Citizens to Eat Less Meat — Green Queen
- France Urged to Recommend Less Meat — Green Queen
- ANSES updates food consumption guidelines — ANSES
- To be climate-friendly, guidelines must include meat limits — PMC/Springer
Germany 🇩🇪
Status: Guidelines updated 2024 (DGE)
The German Nutrition Society (DGE) published new food-based dietary guidelines in 2024, derived using mathematical optimisation incorporating health, environmental impact, and habitual diet. This is a significant shift from prior guidelines.
Key changes:
- Recommended diet is at least 75% plant-based, maximum 25% animal-based
- Red meat and sausage capped at 300g/week (down from a 300–500g range)
- Legumes given their own category for the first time — recommended 125g/week
- Nuts and seeds: 25g/day recommended
- Explicit justification cites both cardiovascular/cancer risk and environmental impact of meat production
Sources:
- Germany's dietary guidelines urge 75% plant-based — Green Queen
- Eat at least 75% plant-based — Plant Based News
- DGE official guidelines (English) — DGE.de
- Methodological framework paper — PubMed
Netherlands 🇳🇱
Status: Guidelines updated December 2025 (Health Council)
The Health Council of the Netherlands released updated dietary guidelines on 4 December 2025 — the first update in a decade. Explicitly framed around a protein transition from animal to plant sources.
Key changes:
- Red meat capped at 200g/week
- Legumes recommended at 250g/week (beans, lentils, peas)
- 60% of daily protein should come from plant-based sources (up from current ~40%)
- Unsalted nuts: 15–30g/day
- Committee conclusion: "A more plant-based and less animal-based diet is better for health and benefits the environment"
The updated Wheel of Five (visual food guide) is expected in spring 2026.
Sources:
- New dietary guidelines — Health Council of the Netherlands
- Full report: Protein Sources and Dietary Patterns 2025 — Health Council
- Health Council updates: eat less meat, more legumes — NL Times
- Less Beef, More Beans — Green Queen
Nordic Countries 🇩🇰🇸🇪🇳🇴🇫🇮🇮🇸 (+ Baltic states)
Status: NNR2023 published 2023; national implementations 2024
The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023 (NNR2023) are the scientific basis for national dietary guidelines across the Nordic and Baltic countries. The 6th edition is the first ever to include sustainability/environmental recommendations alongside health ones.
Key positions:
- Recommends a predominantly plant-based diet high in vegetables, fruits, berries, pulses, potatoes, and wholegrains
- Greater consumption of legumes recommended, partly for environmental reasons
- Red meat intake recommended below 350g/week (cooked weight)
- More fish, less meat
Individual national implementations:
- Finland — Finnish Nutrition Recommendations 2024 (FNR2024) launched November 2024. Explicit call for protein shift from meat to legumes, wholegrains, tofu. Red meat limit 350g/week.
- Norway — Official Norwegian dietary guidelines published August 2024, aligned with NNR2023. Red meat below 350g/week.
- Denmark — Released a national action plan for plant-based eating in 2023, reportedly the first country to do so. Includes chef training, school food, and diplomatic promotion of Danish plant-based exports.
Sources:
- NNR2023 full publication — Norden.org
- Less meat, more plant-based: NNR2023 — Norden.org
- Replace meat with plant-based proteins: Finland's guidelines — Green Queen
- Environmental integration in Nordic FBDGs — PMC
- Denmark's plant-based national action plan — Food Nation Denmark
Austria 🇦🇹
Status: Guidelines updated (recent)
Austria's updated dietary guidelines restructure the recommended plate so that half is fruit and vegetables, a quarter wholegrains/potatoes, and a quarter protein — with the majority of the protein portion being plant-based.
Source:
Canada 🇨🇦
Status: Major overhaul completed 2019, sustained since
Canada's Food Guide was overhauled in 2019 — the most significant revision in decades. While just outside the 2021–2026 window, it set a template that others have since followed and remains the current official guidance:
- Recommends plant-based protein options (beans, nuts, tofu, lentils, chickpeas) more often than animal sources
- States explicitly that "plant-based protein foods can provide more fibre and less saturated fat" reducing risk of cancer, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes
- The guide removed dairy as its own food group
Health Canada reiterated and built on these positions in subsequent communications (2022).
Sources:
- Canada's Food Guide — protein foods
- More plant-based proteins encouraged — Beef Magazine (critical coverage)
China 🇨🇳
Status: Guidelines updated April 2022 (5th edition)
The Chinese Nutrition Society released the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022) in April 2022. This is the 5th edition.
Key positions:
- Meat and poultry consumption recommended to decrease (by approximately 14.4–84.7g depending on population group)
- "Big Food" concept: diversify protein sources beyond livestock
- Encourages greater use of tofu as a meat substitute, building on existing cultural familiarity
- Current Chinese dietary structure explicitly criticised in the guidelines for "excessive intake of livestock and meat"
Sources:
United States 🇺🇸
Status: 2025–2030 DGA released January 2026 — controversial outcome
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) made historically strong recommendations for plant-based protein in its 2025 scientific report, but the Trump administration rejected more than half of those recommendations when producing the final guidelines.
What the DGAC recommended (and was rejected):
- Prioritise plant-based protein over animal protein within the protein foods category
- Move beans, peas, and lentils from the vegetable group into the protein group
- Recommend "more nutrient-dense plant-based meal and dietary pattern options"
- Found that replacing red and processed meat with plant proteins is associated with reduced cardiovascular disease risk
What the final 2025–2030 DGA says instead:
- Advises consuming double or more the previously recommended protein intake
- Recommends animal-based protein at every meal
- Does not prioritise plant protein over animal protein
- 30 of 56 DGAC recommendations were rejected — particularly those supporting plant-forward patterns and cautioning against saturated fats
Sources:
- Harvard Nutrition Source analysis of 2025–2030 DGA
- Trump's guidelines reject science-backed plant-rich recommendations — Friends of the Earth
- PCRM: Prioritising plant-based protein was a step forward
- CSPI: New guidelines undercut science
- Official DGA 2025–2030 (realfood.gov)
Australia 🇦🇺
Status: Under review — update not yet finalised
The current Australian Dietary Guidelines date from 2013 and are under formal review by NHMRC. As of 2023–2024:
- A 2023 review process proposed renaming the 'lean meat and alternatives' food group and recommending plant sources of protein in preference to animal sources
- Proposals include removing red meat entirely from the main food group
- Strong push to integrate environmental sustainability into the guidelines for the first time
- A 2023 survey found 33% of guideline users wanted plant-based diets explicitly included
No final updated guidelines had been published as of early 2026.
Sources:
United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Status: Eatwell Guide not formally updated since 2016 — calls for revision ongoing
The NHS Eatwell Guide has not been formally revised since March 2016. However:
- There are active calls from health professionals and researchers to update it in line with the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet
- An Oxford University study found reducing per capita meat consumption to 2–3 servings/week could prevent 45,000 premature deaths and save the NHS £1.2bn/year
- Advocates argue a plant-based Eatwell revision could save the NHS £55M annually in direct costs
- The NHS Ten Year Plan (December 2024) has been critiqued by Plant Based Health Professionals UK for not going far enough on dietary recommendations
The current guide already notes pulses as preferred protein sources and recommends eating less red and processed meat, but without the quantitative targets seen in Germany or the Netherlands.
Sources:
- UK Eatwell Guide needs plant-based reform — Green Queen
- NHS Ten Year Plan and plant-based health — PBHP UK
- NHS Eatwell Guide
Spain 🇪🇸
Status: Updated guidelines — 0–3 portions of meat per week
Spain's current dietary guidelines, issued by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) and the Spanish Society of Community Nutrition (SENC), include:
- Maximum 0–3 portions of meat per week (prioritising white meat, minimising processed meat)
- At least 4 servings of legumes per week
- Explicit language encouraging protein from plant sources with lower environmental impact
Spain has not undergone a wholesale guideline revision in the 2021–2026 window, but these positions have been reiterated in recent guidance documents.
Sources:
Brazil 🇧🇷
Status: 2014 guidelines still current — no update 2021–2026
Brazil's 2014 Dietary Guidelines remain in force and are internationally cited as a model for their emphasis on:
- Reducing ultra-processed foods
- Prioritising minimally processed, culturally appropriate meals
- Addressing social, cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions of diet
No quantitative meat reduction targets are included. No updated guidelines have been issued in the 2021–2026 period, though the 2014 framework is still being implemented and studied in clinical and policy contexts.
Source:
Themes & Cross-Cutting Notes
Environmental integration is the major 2021–2025 shift. The NNR2023 was the first major multi-country nutrition framework to integrate environmental sustainability recommendations alongside health ones. Germany's DGE 2024 explicitly cited environmental impact as a justification for meat reduction. France's SNANC explicitly links dietary guidance to climate strategy. This represents a structural change in how dietary guidelines are framed — away from purely health-based justifications.
Legumes are getting their own category. Germany gave legumes their own food category for the first time in 2024. The Netherlands set a specific weekly legume target. This is a recurring pattern across updated guidelines.
Quantitative targets are getting stricter. The trend is toward lower meat caps: Germany 300g/week, Netherlands 200g/week red meat, Nordic countries 350g/week. These are converging toward the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet range (~100–300g/week depending on type).
The US is an outlier. The political reversal in the 2025–2030 DGA is notable: the advisory committee's scientific consensus pointed strongly toward plant protein prioritisation, but the final guidelines moved in the opposite direction. This creates a growing divergence between US guidance and the direction of travel in Europe, Canada, and East Asia.
The UK is lagging. Despite strong scientific evidence base and NHS cost arguments, the Eatwell Guide has not been updated since 2016 and has no confirmed revision timeline.
Last updated: March 2026. See also Wyma et al., 2025 for Africa-specific context.