Martin Ågerup wrote that his post about beef in Copenhagen nursing homes had led to media attention, and that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had criticized that the elderly were denied the meat they wanted. According to him, Mayor Sisse Marie Welling (SF) and the Radical Left's Jakob Skyggebjerg believed that the municipality's food strategy had been misunderstood and that the kitchens decided for themselves. They explained that denied birthday wishes for beef were due to misunderstandings, he wrote. Ågerup referred to municipal documents which, according to him, showed that the kitchens were guided by the food strategy's guidelines. The elderly should have a maximum of 80 grams of beef, veal, and lamb per week, he wrote: in the warm meal, no more than once a week, averaging 75 grams, and as cold cuts, one slice every other week. He also wrote that the municipality had a consulting agreement worth 7.8 million kroner per year, among other things, to help the kitchens meet climate goals, and that a draft of the upcoming strategy suggested closer follow-up on the guidelines. According to Ågerup, it was not surprising that kitchen staff reported that residents' birthday wishes for beef were rejected in several places due to considerations for the CO₂ balance. He wrote that the examples were on page 34 of a report the municipality itself had commissioned, and criticized Skyggebjerg for demanding documentation from the Taxpayers. Ågerup believed it was shirking political responsibility to blame the staff. He wrote that Welling and Skyggebjerg assured that the elderly's nutrition and wishes weighed heavier than climate considerations. However, on August 20, according to him, SF, the Red-Green Alliance, and the Radicals voted against recommending that the elderly sector be exempted from the upcoming strategy. The proposal was put forward by the Conservatives, the Liberal Alliance, the Danish People's Party, and the Social Democrats. At the same meeting, the administration suggested, according to Ågerup, that the committee's consultation response should state that the elderly's nutritional needs, individual wishes, and freedom of choice always took precedence over climate, ecology, and food waste. He wrote that SF, the Red-Green Alliance, and the Radicals removed both the phrasing about individual wishes and freedom of choice and the text stating that the elderly's needs always took precedence over the strategy's other goals. Ågerup questioned why the guarantee had been removed if the elderly's wishes came first, and urged the red majority either to stand by the consequences of the strategy or exempt elderly care from it. He wrote that the Taxpayers recommended an exemption. The nursing home was the elderly's home, he emphasized, and the residents paid rent as well as 145 kroner a day for food, over 4,400 kroner a month. Therefore, he believed they should decide what was on their plate. #ældrepleje #madpolitik #oksekød (translated)
