Viva! demands an apology from Poland's medical chamber journal over a “Carnivore Manifesto”

The Viva! Foundation published an open letter to Poland's Supreme Medical Council, the editors of “Gazeta Lekarska” and Dr Piotr Kościelniak about the piece “Manifest mięsożercy” (“Carnivore Manifesto”, issue 10/2026). The column discussed the new nutrition rules for schools and kindergartens, based on the planetary health diet. The foundation particularly objected to a quote from Anthony Bourdain describing vegans as a “Hezbollah-like splinter faction”.

Viva! stresses that the Health Minister's regulation of 16 February 2026, which introduces among other things one plant-based lunch a week, does not impose veganism on children but aims to improve menu quality. The foundation accuses the author of relying on anecdotes instead of data and cites a study of kindergarten menus in Wrocław in which only one of a hundred menus met the standards of the National Centre for Nutrition Education.

The organisation demands a correction of unfounded generalisations, a public apology for the stigmatising comparison, and an evidence-based debate on children's nutrition.