No, Joe Biden did not propose restricting meat consumption to 4 pounds or less per year

Throughout the weekend, a Daily Mail article boosted by Fox News and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott featured a wild claim that doesn’t have much meat to it.

According to the claim, President Joe Biden’s climate plan — aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 — would force people to reduce their red meat intake by 90%, limiting them to four pounds of meat per year or roughly one burger per month.

However, the claim is all sizzle and no steak — it’s not true.

After reviewing this topic, we've determined the claim is not true.

Even the implication of Biden coming between Americans and their meat set off a frenzy from his political opponents, like Abbott.

Where the claim comes from

The figures in the Daily Mail story cited a study published by the University of Michigan on the potential impact diet changes could have on the environment. It was published in January 2020, before Biden clinched the Democratic nomination, according to the Austin-American Statesman, which first fact-checked the claim.

Biden did pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by up to 52% and his proposed infrastructure bill does include roughly $1 trillion on clean energy and climate change, putting more money toward expanding solar and wind technology and updating the power grid.

The measures offered from the White House so far, however, include no mention of mandatory dietary restrictions.

“Our goal is simply to illuminate through research the potential impacts that various behavioral changes can make on greenhouse gas emissions,” Diego Rose, a study co-author, told CNN. “It is up to individuals to then choose their own behaviors that can address the drastic environmental situation in which we find ourselves. And it is up to society, all of us collectively, to incentivize those behaviors.”

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