The traditional post-match sausage sizzle hit a snag at a youth football club after a vegan mum demanded officials 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-time meat supplier, which is under investigation for alleged animal cruelty.
The suggestion has since sparked divisive debate in youth sports clubs across the country.
“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.
Animal rights activist Sheena Chhabra (pictured) emailed her son’s AFL club Auskick to ask if they could serve vegan sausages.
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. 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.
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.
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.”
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 said Age he felt left out while his friends ate sausages and was choosing to make “the most 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 Age They take the welfare and humane treatment of animals “very 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.