Like virtually every environmental campaigner and commentator, Jonathan Safran Foer (Meat of the matter, Review, 28 September) fails to mention one of the greatest uses of dairy products globally and nationally – formula milk.
Babies consume only milk for the first six months – and everyone is a baby once. Breastmilk is the most sustainable food it is possible to have, yet use of formula milk is rising, with global sales predicted to hit over £70bn by 2020.
Objections to the industry are too often dismissed as “mum-shaming”. In the UK, where breastfeeding rates are among the worst in the world, most families want their baby to be breastfed. Yet 90% of British babies receive formula milk in their first year. Until the government is pressured to do more, the industry will continue to expand, and the environment will continue to suffer.
Sally Etheridge
Director, Leicester Mammas CIC
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