Natalie Barr has weighed in on a controversial issue involving vegan sausages being served at post-match sausage sizzles at children’s sporting events.
The Sunrise co-host, 56, appeared on a panel with Joe Hildebrand and Cath Webber to discuss the scandalous debate that has caused division nationally and in youth sports clubs.
The protest began when a vegan mother demanded officials at a youth soccer club stop serving meat sausages and replace them with meat-free alternatives.
Animal rights activist Sheena Chhabra recently emailed Auskick of Melbourne’s southern districts with the controversial suggestion and urging them to cut ties with their long-standing meat supplier, which is under investigation for alleged animal cruelty.
Speaking with Hildebrand and Webber, Barr attempted to find a middle ground between meat-eaters and vegans.
Natalie Barr (pictured) has weighed in on a controversial issue involving vegan sausages being served at post-match sausage sizzles at children’s sporting events.
‘Can’t you just put the vegan on (the barbecue) first?’ the Channel Seven presenter asked.
Meanwhile, Hildebrand took aim at vegans and suggested they will never compromise.
“Some people just can’t like you. And by some people I mean vegan,” he said, leaving Barr and Webber dumbfounded.
“I’m not going to have any vegan hate,” Barr responded. ‘I quite like vegans… I love vegans, I love vegetarians. I just think we can work it out.
The Sunrise co-host, 56, appeared on a panel with Joe Hildebrand (left) and Cath Webber (right) to discuss the scandalous debate that has caused division nationally and in youth sports clubs.
The protest began when a vegan mother demanded officials at a youth soccer club stop serving meat sausages and replace them with meat-free alternatives.
The veteran TV presenter attempted to take matters into her own hands, adding: “Maybe I’ll go over there and sort it out myself.”
The debate began on Monday when Ms Chhabra called for the usual meat sausages to be swapped for vegan alternatives in South Melbourne’s Auskick district.
“I have requested that if sausages must be served, which I think is not essential at a matinee event, that we change the regular sausages to vegan sausages,” Ms Chhabra said.
The mother claimed the club told her she could bring her own vegan sausages to matches to cook at post-match barbecues.
But his seven-year-old son refused because he didn’t want them cooked on the same grill as the meat.
The club does not have a separate barbecue for cooking non-meat products.
The campaigner also wants the South Melbourne Districts Sports Club to sever ties with its long-time sausage supplier Ralphs Meat Company.
Ralphs is currently under investigation by Agriculture Victoria and the Federal Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) after alleged animal cruelty by its workers was secretly filmed at its abattoir, The Age reported.
Chhabra became a vegetarian ten years ago, but gave up all meat five years later when she realized how animals were raised and slaughtered for meat, dairy and eggs.
Animal rights activist Sheena Chhabra (pictured) emailed her son’s AFL club Auskick to ask if they could serve vegan sausages.
The animal rights activist does not believe that sausages are suitable to be served in the morning and is concerned that beef sausages and bacon are so harmful to health that they are classified as “carcinogens of the first group.”
He also has his own vegan YouTube channel.
“I think if children knew these realities, they would ask for vegan sausages,” Ms. Chhabra wrote.
The animal activist is also concerned that meat served at post-match barbecues, such as bacon and beef sausages, “are classified as group one carcinogens.”
The vegan mum believes the club has fallen “very short” with the food they choose to cook and serve, and says there are “significant concerns” about the health implications, as well as the environmental and ethical impact.
Ms Chhabra argued that the same place where meat is served is supposed to be a place where health and wellbeing should be encouraged.
He urged other parents to be aware of the negative impact of meat if the club continues to serve it, although he would prefer only vegan sausages to be available after games.
“If that happened and the parents still chose it, then it’s their choice,” he said.
Chhabra’s son has also been vegan for five years.
She told The Age that she felt left out while her friends ate sausages and that she was choosing to make “the more ethical, health-conscious and environmentally friendly choice.”
The activist maintains that the soccer club where her son plays is precisely the place where health and well-being are supposed to be promoted. Pictured are Auskick youth from Melbourne’s southern district in action.
The South Melbourne club has remained silent on the issue, but the activist has sparked debate in other football sports clubs.
While some clubs are happy to adapt to modern tastes, many simply serve what is most popular.
“If they want to put vegan sausages, we’ll put vegan sausages,” a volunteer tending the barbecue at another youth club told Nine News.
“But it doesn’t have to be all vegan sausage.”
Ralphs Meat Company said in a statement to The Age that they take the welfare and humane treatment of animals “extremely seriously.”
The company said they are already highly regulated but have implemented “several corrective actions” after conducting an internal review and are cooperating with the DAFF.