Celebrity chef Pete Evans has slammed vegan parents who force their children to follow strict diets after a couple were convicted for leaving their baby girl severely malnourished.
The 33-year-old mother and father, 35, admitted to failing to provide for a child, causing serious injury.
They were sentenced on Thursday to an 18-month intensive corrections order after pleading guilty They will also undertake 300 hours community service, 7news reported.
The couple fed their daughter a diet of oats, rice milk and vegetables.
She had no teeth, could not stand up, weighed less than 5kg (11lbs) and looked like a three-month-old.
‘This is so so sad. I will repeat it again and again. Humans are omnivores and we are designed to eat meat in our diet,’ the My Kitchen Rules judge wrote on Facebook.
Celebrity chef Pete Evans has slammed vegan parents who force their children to follow strict diets after a couple were convicted of leaving their baby girl severely malnourished
The 20-month-old child, who was fed a diet relying on oats and rice milk, had no teeth, could not stand up, weighed less than 5kg (11lbs) and looked like a three-month-old
‘Children should not be on a vegan plant only diet. There is a mainstream push to turn people off all meat or worse encouraging people to eat fake meat products (please read the ingredients) and the repercussions are going to be horrendous.
‘Please use common sense and start by understanding what being human means.’
The paleo enthusiast went on to advise parents to ‘be wise’ with choices of what they feed their children.
Evans, who was sparked outrage in 2015 when he announced plans to launch a cookbook that promoted a restrictive diet for babies and toddlers, said a meat-free diet could be risky for children.
His latest post prompted a heated debate, with many people claiming veganism was not the problem.
The celebrity chef’s Facebook post sparked a heated debate with many users claiming veganism wasn’t the issue
The toddler could not crawl or even roll over when first taken to hospital. She has now learnt to stand and walk after intensive rehabilitation but is a long way from making a full recovery
Father, 35, and mother, 32, of a toddler who was so malnourished she was suffering from rickets, a degenerative bone disease caused by a lack of vital nutrients
‘Usually love everything you write Pete, but for the first time I’m disappointed in your comments. The issue with these parents wasn’t that they were feeding their child a vegan diet,’ one person wrote.
‘They fed her ”only oats, bread and a few mouthfuls of vegetables a day”. I don’t know a single vegan who eats that badly!’
Another person wrote: ‘Veganism has got nothing to do with this one sorry Pete, this is pure neglect’.
‘Please don’t misrepresent this as a vegan diet issue,’ another said.
During sentencing on Thursday, Judge Sarah Huggett said both parents had shown a ‘reckless failure to provide the necessities of life’.
Evans, who was slammed in 2015 when he announced plans to launch a cookbook that promotes a restrictive diet for babies and toddlers, said a meat-free diet could be risky for children (pictured with his wife Nicola Robinson)
Judge Huggett said the mother’s fixation with a vegan diet left her daughter in ‘considerable danger of injury falling short of death’.
They fed the girl a diet so lacking in basic nutrients she developed rickets, a degenerative bone disease caused by a shortage of vital nutrients.
Neighbours told police they saw only the girl’s two older brothers playing in their backyard and did not know the couple had a third child.
The child has since gained on more than 12kg. The couple’s other children, two older brothers, aged six and four, are also in government care.
A victim impact statement written by a foster carer on the child’s behalf revealed the extent of her malnourishment.
The mother (pictured with her husband) told a hospital dietitian her entire family followed a vegan diet. She said her daughter would generally have one cup of oats with rice milk and half a banana in the morning, and a piece of toast with jam or peanut butter for lunch
The mother told police the child was a ‘fussy eater’. Sometimes for a snack the child was given a mouthful of fruit or two sultanas (the parents pictured outside court)
‘For the first 19 months of her her life (the girl) did not receive the basic care to grow and develop,’ the carer said in her statement during the sentencing hearing.
‘[The girl] was defenceless and unable to protect herself from her parents.’ .
The couple’s marriage broke down shortly after their arrest and they have since separated.
The man’s defence barrister, Frank Coyne claimed the mother was the primary caregiver and dictated how the household was run.
‘She decided the diet of the household … he is not and was not a vegetarian or a vegan.’
Crown prosecutor Julia Dewhurst slammed the man’s defence, saying he sent the children to school with two pieces of bread and an apple.
He cannot now claim the decisions were solely made by (the girl’s mother).’
Judge Huggett did not accept that the father was ‘powerless’.
‘He is older than the mother and could have just as easily have done something.’