Sarah Brown said that she twice refused to eat veal during her visit to Italy for the G8 summit.

Veal is a popular delicacy in Italy and was on the lunch menu on Thursday for the spouses of G8 leaders during the three-day summit in L’Aquila, and was again offered that night at the gala dinner.

The British Prime Minister’s wife has longstanding objections to the “white veal” meat, which is regarded as cruel by many British animal lovers because of the conditions in which many calves are reared. Writing on the social networking site Twitter yesterday, Mrs Brown said: “Am hoping that no veal served at lunch again today — have declined it twice this trip as just feel very strongly about it.”

A Downing Street official said: “There was no fuss. She quietly declined. No offence was taken.”

Mrs Brown had no qualms about other local dishes, including green pea ice cream, which she pronounced “delicious”.

Kim Haywood, chief executive of the National Beef Association, was disappointed by Mrs Brown’s decision. “There are some old-fashioned concepts but veal is a very lean and low-fat meat that should be welcomed in most people’s diets, given the high welfare and quality of life the animals are given. Calves are no longer kept in crates in Europe — that system is banned.”

Juliet Gellatley, founder and director of Vegetarians International Voice for Animals, congratulated Mrs Brown for her stance. “Most veal eaten in Italy is white veal, which is farmed from babies kept in pens until they are two years old and then kept in tightly packed, overcrowded conditions on wooded slats. They are usually slaughtered before eight months,” she said. “Sarah Brown’s message is that it is not acceptable to keep farmed animals in these conditions. It is a big ‘no’ to intensive farming and I think it is outrageous that this veal was even on the menu.”

Veal accounts for 0.1 per cent of the meat bought in Britain and fewer than one in 100 households eat it, according to the English Beef and Lamb Executive. A growing number of chefs, retailers and animal welfare bodies say that all veal should not be dismissed as unacceptable.

Times Recommends

• 'New York has lost its edge'
• Copenhagen will fail – and quite right too
• More than 17,000 new underwater species found