Meat in Decline

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Red meat consumption falls 15% over 10 years

“Annual per capita red meat consumption in the US fell 15% to 101 pounds in the past 10 years, according to the US Department of Agriculture. It’s down by a third since the early 1970s, when per capita consumption was pushing 150 pounds per year. And the downward consumption trend could soon accelerate, with major negative implications for the meat industry”

Global Meat News, 2015

41% of Americans ate less meat in past year

“26% of Americans said they ate less meat in the last 12 months, but other research places this number as high as 41%”

Food Navigator USA, 2015

US meat consumption down 9% since 2004

“Meat consumption is dropping across Europe and now in the US, the US Department of Agriculture reports meat eating in the US is on the decline, three decades after health concerns first started denting demand for beef. After peaking at 184 pounds per person annually in 2004, Americans now eat an estimated 167 pounds today”

Earth Policy Institute, 2012

US meat consumption decade long decrease

“Meat consumption in the US has been on the decline for nearly a decade. Volume sales through these outlets (supermarkets, drug stores, and mass merchandisers) in millions of pounds have gone down overall from 2008 to 2012 with decreases in all but two of the meat categories and in one of the two poultry categories”

Foodnavigator USA, 2013

British sausages decline by 26.4%

“British sales of sausages have dropped by over a quarter since 2008. The volume of sausages sold has fallen by 26.4% (1250 million kg); health fears about pork have also been cited as a cause for this drop. In June, the superbug MRSA was been found in sausages and minced pork being sold in British supermarkets”

Food Navigator, 2014

German meat consumption down

“Meat consumption in Germany is declining steadily, and that’s true of last year as well, when statistically every German citizen ate only 59.6 kilos of meat, which is 1.4 kilos less than the year before”

Organic Market Info, 2013

China’s plan to cut meat consumption by 50% cheered by climate campaigners

“New dietary guidelines could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1bn tonnes by 2030, and could lessen country’s problems with obesity and diabetes… New dietary guidelines drawn up by China’s health ministry recommend that the nation’s 1.3 billion population should consume between 40g to 75g of meat per person each day. The measures, released once every 10 years, are designed to improve public health but could also provide a significant cut to greenhouse gas emissions”

Guardian, 2016

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