Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret claims to be a "groundbreaking" feature-length documentary which follows "an intrepid film-maker as he uncovers the most destructive industry facing the planet today".

The film makes the claim the world’s "leading environmental organisations are too afraid to talk about" the damage the sector is doing to the environment.

Produced by vegan body Animals United Movement (AUM) and First Spark Media, the glossy production seeks to claim that the international meat industry is a secret and shadowy organisation and that the film-makers, named as Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, were "putting their necks on the chopping block" by making the film.

According to media reports, Andersen, who is the founder and executive director of AUM and a vegan campaigner, was inspired to make the film after watching Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth​’, which he said ignores the main contributor to climate change.

A website to promote the film, which features glossy trailers alongside screening dates across the US, contains claims such as it takes 660 gallons of water to produce one burger, while a video clip claims it takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce 1lb of beef. It also claims an acre of rainforest is cleared every second, with the "leading cause" being the need to graze animals and grow their feed crops.

The promotional site also encourages people to take on a 30-day vegan challenge, a project by a vegan author, which offers people advice and information on how to go vegan for between US$20 and US$39.

Reviews of the documentary in mainstream media mainly regurgitate the film-makers claims without question, although the San Francisco Weekly​ described the programme as "self-indulgent, vegan propaganda".​

Duncan Williamson, food policy advisor with the World Wildlife Fund in the UK, which was named in the film, said: "It is focusing on US NGO. I am not in a position to comment on their policies as I don’t know them."​

However, he added: "In the UK and Europe NGOs have been talking about livestock consumption for several years. We recognise the need to eat less meat. At WWF we talk about reducing meat consumption – red and white – but do not advocate excluding it fully from the diet. People should eat meat and protein in line with governmental healthy eating guidelines. Meat in moderation makes a valuable contribution to our diets.​

"We have worked on livestock for many years from our work on feed and the impact soy has on the natural environmental. We recognise the impact livestock has on the climate. If we want an equitable sustainable food system we do need to look at meat. Our work has led to us being attacked by the meat industry as being anti-meat and vegan groups as supporting the livestock industry."​