SCOTLAND’S farming union leader has hit out at a new report that “vilifies” livestock production.

Andrew McCornick, president of NFU Scotland, says the “planetary health diet”, cooked up by almost 40 experts for the EAT-Lancet Commission, is an insult to farmers rearing cattle and sheep.

The plan calls for a “significant overhaul” in what the world’s population eats, arguing for a shift from meat to vegetables in order to limit climate change by reducing harmful emissions and protecting land from clearance for food production.

The diet allows for an average of just seven grams of red meat per day, as well as 500 grams of vegetables and fruits.

Daily poultry consumption would be confined to 29 grams – the equivalent to one and a half chicken nuggets – and fish to 28 grams, which is a quarter of a medium sized fillet.

Meanwhile, eggs are limited to around 1.5 per week.

But McCornick said the “overly simplified message” about meat is harmful to farmers, who he says “take their environmental responsibilities incredibly seriously” and are working to limit their impact on the environment.

He told The National: “Around 85% of Scotland’s farmland is defined as less favoured area, and 43% is defined as high nature value land. Our unique landscape and climate means that much of Scotland’s farmland is unploughable and unsuitable for crops other than grass. However, that grass is readily converted by Scotland’s cattle and sheep into fresh, nutritious meat and milk.

“Scottish farmers and crofters should be praised for their environmental contribution and encouraged to join the climate change conversation, rather than being vilified by an overly simplified message of ‘don’t eat red meat’ from a report which incorrectly painted all red meat production to be the same.”

Adopting the diet around the world could prevent 11 million premature deaths per year by 2050, according to the scientists behind it.

However, Dr Emma Kinrade, a dietetics lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, told The National it is unlikely to revolutionise Scotland’s eating habits.

Comparing it to existing programmes like the Mediterranean and cardioprotective diets, she said: “It’s not really anything different than we have been promoting as a healthy diet for many years.

“People who want to make a difference could make realistic changes to their diet because it’s not telling them to completely exclude things like red meat – and people in the west of Scotland like red meat and processed meat – but I wouldn’t imagine it will be a game changer.”