I think the point here is that animals raised for meat should not be conflated with burning fossil fuels. Cattle, chickens etc. are part of the carbon cycle.

Modern high-intensity farming practices such as feedlots and cage chickens - where the majority of the feed is grain and harvested hay - are probably where the conflation enters. There is just as much a need to raise healthy, minimally carbon intensive animals as there is to reduce eating meat. There are farming methods to do this, but change is slow.