Is the world losing its appetite for meat? (Photo: Adobe. Do not use without permission. Edited by PBN)
Media conglomerate Bloomberg has run an Op-Ed headlined ‘The world is finally losing its taste for meat’.
Penned by BloombergNEF analyst Nathaniel Bullard, the piece explores how the coronavirus pandemic has affected the global consumption of animal proteins and sheds light on the environmental consequences of beef production.
‘Unprecedented’ decline
“The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that meat production—a decent proxy for consumption—dropped in 2019, and it forecasts a decline again this year,” Bullard wrote.
“Last year was only the second since 1961 in which production fell; two consecutive years of decline is unprecedented and could be the start of something durable.”
He added that even countries like Brazil that have a strong appetite for meat may be approaching ‘peak pasture’ when it comes to demand for beef.
COVID-19
One in five Brits (more than 13 million) have cut down on meat consumption during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey conducted by The Vegan Society.
The organization says the data highlights how ‘pressures on supermarkets and consumers alike are changing buying behavior towards a more ethical, compassionate alternative’.
In addition to cutting meat consumption, 15 percent of respondents said they have reduced their dairy/egg intake over the lockdown period.
The survey revealed that 41 percent of those who have reduced their meat or dairy consumption did so because of their preferred product not being available on the supermarket shelves. But 43 percent chose to reduce their meat consumption out of concern for health, environmental, or animal rights reasons.
