The Poynter Institute Menu Donate State Editions * California * Florida * Iowa * Michigan * New Hampshire * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * West Virginia * Wisconsin Issues * All Issues * Online hoaxes * Coronavirus * Health Care * Immigration * Extremism * Taxes * Marijuana * Environment * Crime * Guns * Foreign Policy * LGBTQ+ People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Donald Trump * Mitch McConnell * Hakeem Jeffries * Ron DeSantis Media * PunditFact * Tucker Carlson * Sean Hannity * Rachel Maddow * Bloggers * PolitiFact Videos Campaigns * 2024 Elections Truth-o-Meter * True * Mostly True * Half True * Mostly False * False * Pants on Fire Promises * Biden Promise Tracker * Trump-O-Meter * Obameter * Latest Promises About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * En Español * Who pays for PolitiFact? * Advertise with Us * Suggest a Fact-check * Corrections and Updates * Newsletters Donate #### Follow us The Facts Newsletter Sign up English Español ### Get PolitiFact in your inbox. * Weekly Email Newsletter * Daily Email Newsletter Your Email Address Sign Up ![](\\" ![](\\" Fox News Channel stated on April 23, 2021 in a TV graphic: \"Biden\'s climate requirements\" will \"cut 90% of red meat from diet\" to a \"max 4 lbs per year\" and \"one burger per month.\" ![\\"true\\"](\\" ![\\"pants- fire\\"](\\" * Environment * Climate Change * Food * Pundits * PunditFact * Fox News Channel ![\\"President](\\" President Joe Biden, then a candidate for president, worked the grill during the Polk County Democrats Steak Fry on Sept. 21, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP/Neibergall) ![\\"Bill](\\" By Bill McCarthy April 26, 2021 # Joe Biden banning burgers? Fox News, GOP politicians fuel false narrative #### If Your Time is short * President Joe Biden’s climate plans do not include restrictions on red meat consumption, the White House said. Biden never mentioned red meat when he announced his plan to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030. * The false claims about Biden restricting access to meat started with a Daily Mail article that linked Biden’s goals to an unrelated 2020 study on meat consumption. A study author told PolitiFact it \"has nothing to do with Biden or his climate change plan.\" * Fox News and Fox Business Network hosts repeated the false claims about Biden, saying he would limit the number of hamburgers Americans could eat. See the sources for this fact-check One day after President Joe Biden pledged to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half, Fox News and Fox Business Network personalities repeatedly and baselessly claimed that the move would also force Americans to say goodbye to hamburgers and steaks. \"To meet the Biden Green New Deal targets, America has to, get this, America has to stop eating meat,\" said Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow, a former economic adviser to President Donald Trump, on April 23. \"No burger on July 4. No steaks on the barbecue.\" Biden’s climate plans do not include restrictions on red meat consumption, a White House official confirmed to PolitiFact. Biden never mentioned red meat when he announced his plan to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to 52% below 2005 levels by 2030, a move that would double the U.S.’s commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. But across several Fox News and Fox Business Network programs, the story told was different. Hosts such as Kudlow and Fox News’s Jesse Watters wrongly claimed that Americans would have to take steaks off their grills in order for the U.S. to hit Biden’s target, while the networks’ chyrons and graphics gave the same false claims a visual flair. One Fox News graphic, for example, said \"Biden’s climate requirements\" would \"cut 90% of red meat from diet\" by holding Americans to \"max 4 lbs per year\" and \"one burger per month.\" ![](\\" A screenshot of an inaccurate Fox News graphic about Joe Biden\'s climate plans. The graphic aired April 23 on \"America Reports.\" The false claims about Biden restricting access to meat originated with a Daily Mail article that linked Biden’s goals to an unrelated January 2020 study on meat consumption. The article speculated that \"Americans may have to cut their red meat consumption by a whopping 90%,\" citing a University of Michigan study that had no link to Biden’s plan. \"The study was published in January 2020, when Trump was still president, so it had nothing to do with Biden or his climate change plan,\" said Tulane University professor Diego Rose, one of the study’s three co-authors. \"It\'s all just sensational goo from ‘Fox & Friends.’\" \"The study shows that if we eat less meat, especially beef, we could substantially reduce our dietary carbon footprint. But that change in behavior is a choice that individuals will make.\" In a separate statement, co-authors Martin Heller and Gregory Keoleian of the University of Michigan explained that one hypothetical scenario the study considered was a 90% reduction in beef combined with a 50% reduction in other meats. They found that such a change would reduce \"diet-related greenhouse gas emissions associated with agricultural production\" by 50%. \"But this is not a specific recommended policy for achieving a 50% reduction in U.S. carbon emissions,\" Heller and Keoleian said. How the claims spread on Fox News The false claims about Biden’s climate policies cropped up on social media after the Daily Mail story went live, but they got an assist from Fox News and Fox Business Network, with the first claims on those networks coming during the \"Fox & Friends\" morning talk show. \"Here’s an example of how it’s going to affect your lifestyle,\" host Brian Kilmeade said April 23. \"It’s going to cut 90% of red meat out of a diet. That’s four pounds a year.\" \"Part of his climate or green targets are to cut our red meat,\" host Ainsley Earhardt repeated minutes later. \"He wants to cut out 90% of the red meat that you all eat.\" #### Featured Fact-check ![](\\" ![](\\" Ron DeSantis stated on August 28, 2024 in a press conference The proposal to put golf courses, hotels in Florida state parks “was something that was leaked. … a lot of that stuff was half-baked and was not ready for prime time.” ![\\"true\\"](\\" mostly-false/6a6ef6075c162fdccf5eb960e683dcd1.jpg.\\") ![\\"barely- true\\"](\\" false.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • August 29, 2024 Other Fox journalists followed suit, including Kudlow, Charles Payne and Jesse Watters. Watters said on \"The Five\" that to make Biden’s climate plan happen, \"Americans would have to cut red meat consumption by a whopping 90%. That means only one burger a month.\" He repeated the same claim the following night on \"Watters’ World.\" In the primetime hour, Fox News host Sean Hannity said April 23 that Biden’s plans \"will impact how you eat, including red meat.\" On April 24, Jeanine Pirro asked, \"Do you like red meat? … Not so fast. The left with their Green New Deal wants to make sure you don’t.\" The false claims were not limited to the talk show hosts, however. Fox News White House correspondent John Roberts opened his April 23 news segment on \"America Reports,\" a daytime news program, by telling viewers, \"Say goodbye to your burgers if you want to sign up for the climate agenda. That’s the finding of one study.\" Later that night, anchor Shannon Bream asked her viewers, \"Could new climate impact plans limit you to just one burger a month?\" Correspondent Kevin Corke told Bream that under Biden’s plan, \"all Americans would have to limit their consumption of burgers by about one a month.\" ![](\\" Screenshots of Fox News and Fox Business Network graphics and chyrons about Joe Biden\'s climate plans. After fact-checkers and news outlets pointed out that the claims about Biden limiting meat were inaccurate, Roberts walked back the claims. \"That research from 2020 found that cutting back how much red meat people eat would have a drastic impact on harmful greenhouse gas emissions,\" Roberts said of the study. \"The data was accurate, but a graphic and the script incorrectly implied that it was part of Biden’s plan for dealing with climate change. That is not the case.\" But the false narrative about Biden banning burgers had already taken hold. On social media, Republicans used the claims to attack Biden. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., branded him as the \"Hamburglar,\" while Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., told him to \"stay out of my kitchen.\" \"Joe Biden’s climate plan includes cutting 90% of red meat from our diets by 2030,\" Boebert said, falsely, in her tweet. The since-corrected Fox News graphic was also shared widely, including in tweets by Donald Trump Jr. and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas. On Facebook, posts sharing it got tens of thousands of engagements and were flagged as part of the platform’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) Our ruling In a graphic, Fox News claimed that \"Biden\'s climate requirements\" will \"cut 90% of red meat from diet\" to a \"max 4 lbs per year\" and \"one burger per month.\" The graphic echoed other chyrons and statements made by the network’s personalities the day after Biden pledged to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. But the graphic is wrong, and Roberts issued a correction days later. Biden’s climate plans do not include restrictions on red meat consumption, a White House official confirmed. Claims that they do trace back to a Daily Mail article that wrongly linked a 2020 study from the University of Michigan to Biden’s plans. We rate this claim Pants on Fire! **RELATED:How Fox News, far-right TV blamed green energy for Texas’ power outages** #### Read About Our Process The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter ### Our Sources Various searches on TVEyes, April 26, 2021 Various searches on CrowdTangle, April 26, 2021 Various searches on Hoaxy, April 26, 2021 Various searches on the Social Media Analysis Toolkit, April 26, 2021 Various searches on Factba.se, April 26, 2021 CNN, \"Fact check: No, Biden is not trying to force Americans to eat less red meat,\" April 26, 2021 Daniel Dale on Twitter, April 26, 2021 Business Insider, \"Daily Mail and Fox News pushed misleading claims about Biden limiting meat consumption. Conservatives like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene lashed out at the president over it,\" April 26, 2021 The Washington Post, \"Biden’s climate plan doesn’t ban meat. But baseless claims left Republicans fuming: ‘Stay out of my kitchen,\'\" April 26, 2021 Snopes, \"Does Biden’s Climate Plan Include Cutting 90% of Red Meat From Our Diets?\" April 26, 2021 Congresswoman Mary Miller on Facebook (archived), April 25, 2021 Marjorie Taylor Greene on Twitter (archived), April 25, 2021 Madison Cawthorne on Twitter (archived), April 25, 2021 Facebook posts (archived here), April 25, 2021 Fox News, \"Justice with Judge Jeanine,\" April 24, 2021 Lauren Boebert on Twitter (archived), April 24, 2021 Donald Trump Jr. on Twitter (archived), April 24, 2021 Todd Starnes on Twitter (archived), April 24, 2021 David J. Harris Jr. on Twitter (archived), April 24, 2021 Fox News, \"Hannity,\" April 23, 2021 Fox News, \"Watters’ World,\" April 24, 2021 Fox Business Network, \"Kudlow: Biden\'s Green New Deal means no meat for the 4th of July, have grilled Brussels sprouts instead,\" April 23, 2021 Fox News, \"Fox News @ Night,\" April 23, 2021 Fox News, \"The Five,\" April 23, 2021 Fox Business Network, \"Kudlow,\" April 23, 2021 Fox Business Network, \"Making Money with Charles Payne,\" April 23, 2021 Fox News, \"America Reports,\" April 23, 2021 Fox News, \"Fox & Friends,\" April 23, 2021 Daily Mail, \"How Biden\'s climate plan could limit you to eat just one burger a MONTH, cost $3.5K a year per person in taxes, force you to spend $55K on an electric car and \'crush\' American jobs,\" April 22, 2021 The White House, \"Remarks by President Biden at the Virtual Leaders Summit on Climate Opening Session,\" April 22, 2021 University of Michigan Center for Sustainable Systems, \"Implications of Future US Diet Scenarios on Greenhouse Gas Emissions,\" Jan. 13, 2020 PolitiFact, \"How Fox News, far-right TV blamed green energy for Texas’ power outages,\" Feb. 19, 2021 PolitiFact, \"Trump misses the mark with claim that Green New Deal proposal wants to ban cows,\" Sept. 28, 2020 PolitiFact, \"No, Kamala Harris didn’t say she wants to eliminate beef,\" Aug. 14, 2020 Email correspondence with Fox News, April 26, 2021 Statement from the White House, April 26, 2021 Email interview with Diego Rose, professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, April 26, 2021 Email statement from Martin Heller, research specialist at the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, April 26, 2021 ## Browse the Truth-O-Meter ### More by Bill McCarthy slide 4 to 6 of 15 ![](\\" ![](\\" Greg Gutfeld stated on June 23, 2022 in a TV segment: No one “with a concealed carry permit ever committed a mass shooting.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 28, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 20, 2022 in an Instagram post: “Gas in Canada is $9.00 a gallon.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 22, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 20, 2022 in an Instagram post: A compilation of images shows what Joe Biden has “done to our country.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 21, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" TikTok posts stated on July 19, 2022 in a TikTok post: An image shows Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in front of a cross with a figurine of former President Donald Trump on it. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 21, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 19, 2022 in an Instagram post: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was “faking being arrested” during an abortion- rights protest outside the Supreme Court. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 20, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on July 15, 2022 in a Facebook post: \"Antifa was already inside the Capitol with floor plans dressed as Trump supporters\" on Jan. 6, 2021, proving the attack “was 100% a setup.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 19, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Viral image stated on July 12, 2022 in a viral image: An image shows an “all aboard the Trump train” truck crashed into a bridge. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 15, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 12, 2022 in Instagram posts: Actor Tom Holland is “confirmed to have died.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 14, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on July 11, 2022 in Facebook posts: Images from Hunter Biden’s laptop show Joe Biden naked with a young girl. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Bill McCarthy • July 13, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 10, 2022 in an Instagram post: Shinzo Abe was assassinated because he “didn’t mandate vaccines, sent 1.6 million doses back and gave citizens ivermectin.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 11, 2022 ![](\\" black/4590875651af69b2c789ceab409664dd.jpg\\") ![](\\" black/72988380e8c8bd188dc360d11552e4a0.jpg\\") X posts stated on July 7, 2022 in in tweets: An image shows that “following his resignation, Boris Johnson has escaped to the sea.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 8, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on June 30, 2022 in Facebook posts: President Donald Trump was in a presidential limousine as he left his Jan. 6, 2021, rally at the White House Ellipse. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 8, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on July 2, 2022 in a Facebook post: \"Fox offers Chris Wallace\'s Sunday spot to Candace Owens.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 7, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Marjorie Taylor Greene stated on July 5, 2022 in a tweet: Says an image shows the Highland Park shooting suspect \"in jail or rehab or a psychiatric center\" before the shooting. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 5, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on June 28, 2022 in a Facebook post: An image shows a “UFO photographed on June 21, 2014 by the pilot from the cockpit of an F-16 military plane flying near Lackland Air Force Base of the United States located in San Antonio, Texas.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 30, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Greg Gutfeld stated on June 23, 2022 in a TV segment: No one “with a concealed carry permit ever committed a mass shooting.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 28, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 20, 2022 in an Instagram post: “Gas in Canada is $9.00 a gallon.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 22, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on June 20, 2022 in an Instagram post: A compilation of images shows what Joe Biden has “done to our country.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • June 21, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" TikTok posts stated on July 19, 2022 in a TikTok post: An image shows Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in front of a cross with a figurine of former President Donald Trump on it. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 21, 2022 ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/322c808c00e73c217d17772ddd5a0eb5.jpg\\") ![](\\" Instagram_logo_2016.svg/8b142c91ebe468a84a192e6df2b7b994.jpg\\") Instagram posts stated on July 19, 2022 in an Instagram post: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was “faking being arrested” during an abortion- rights protest outside the Supreme Court. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 20, 2022 ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on July 15, 2022 in a Facebook post: \"Antifa was already inside the Capitol with floor plans dressed as Trump supporters\" on Jan. 6, 2021, proving the attack “was 100% a setup.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Bill McCarthy • July 19, 2022 ### Joe Biden banning burgers? Fox News, GOP politicians fuel false narrative * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 12, 2024 in an Instagram post: A video shows a body that Israel embedded with a bomb exploding during a Palestinian funeral procession. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Sofia Ahmed • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 11, 2024 in a post: “ESPN has fired Shannon Sharpe.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Gideon Hess • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 12, 2024 in an Instagram post: Former President Donald Trump admitted during the Sept. 10 presidential debate that he “blew up the Nord Stream pipeline.” ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Loreben Tuquero • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 10, 2024 in a Facebook post: Patron, Don Julio and Pink Whitney tequila recalled because they contained fecal matter. ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Jeff Cercone • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Elissa Slotkin stated on September 11, 2024 in a TV ad: Mike Rogers supported “laws that could eliminate IVF and birth control.” ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"half-true\\"](\\" true.jpg\\") By Caleb McCullough • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Instagram posts stated on September 11, 2024 in an Instagram post: \"Debate moderators made the false claim to Donald Trump that there is nowhere in the United States where abortion is legal up until birth.\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Jeff Cercone • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 12, 2024 in a Facebook post: ABC News fired presidential debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Sofia Ahmed • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Yes on 4 stated on September 10, 2024 in a TV ad: Florida’s six-week abortion law has “no real exceptions. Not for her health. Not even for rape.” ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"barely-true\\"](\\" barely-true.jpg\\") By Samantha Putterman • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Facebook posts stated on September 11, 2024 in una publicación en Facebook: Imagen muestra carnet del Partido Comunista de la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris. ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" th.jpg\\") ![\\"pants-fire\\"](\\" pants-fire.jpg\\") By Maria Briceño • September 13, 2024 * ![](\\" ![](\\" Sam Brown stated on August 28, 2024 in a campaign appearance: Proposed Nevada constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights would put “essentially no limit on access to abortion.” ![\\"false\\"](\\" ![\\"false\\"](\\" By Caleb McCullough • September 13, 2024 Load more ### Support independent fact-checking. Become a member! In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts. Sign me up #### Offices District of Columbia 1800 I Street NW Washington, DC 20006 Florida 801 3rd St. S St. Petersburg, FL 33701 727-821-9494 #### People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Donald Trump * Mitch McConnell * Hakeem Jeffries * Ron DeSantis #### State Editions * California * Florida * Iowa * Michigan * New Hampshire * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * West Virginia * Wisconsin #### About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * En Español * Who pays for PolitiFact? * Advertise with Us * Corrections and Updates * Newsletters #### RSS Feeds * Recent Articles and Fact-checks * Recent Fact-checks Suggest a Fact-check #### Follow us The Facts Newsletter Sign up Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Copyright ©All Rights Reserved Poynter Institute 2020, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization ![\\"\\"](\\" * * * ✕
Biden's climate requirements will cut 90 of red meat from diet to a max 4 lbs per year and one burger per month