People Buying More Alternative Meat, Expected To Consume Less Real Meat Through 2025
Joe Loria: For people leery of plant-based meats for not being natural. Well, animals raised on factory farms are not natural. They are genetically manipulated.
JEFF KART: U.S. consumers have been gobbling up more alternative, plant-based meats since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. If you look closely, you’ll see it happened even before America’s first reported case of COVID-19… There’s a smorgasbord of reasons why, says Joe Loria, meat reduction campaign manager for World Animal Protection, a global nonprofit. Those include meat shortages due to coronavirus-related shutdowns at slaughterhouses and an increased availability of Beyond Burgers, imitation chicken tenders and other plant-based alternatives at food markets and restaurants.
Faux meat makers are doing a better job at creating tasty substitutes, with equal nutritional value and high fiber content. Continued sales also can help lower prices in the future, Loria says. He argues that biting into a fake steak or other substitute is one of the best ways to fight climate change, since intensive animal agriculture is a leading contributor…
The United States has one of the highest rates of meat consumption per capita in the world. But red meat production dropped by 18% between May 2019 and May 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Overall, U.S. meat sales are expected to drop by more than $20 billion before the end of 2020.
Per-capita meat consumption is expected to fall globally this year by nearly 3%, according to a June “Food Outlook” from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. That’s the biggest decline since at least 2000, Loria says. It’s also projected by the UN that per-capita consumption of meat in the U.S. won’t return to pre-pandemic levels until at least after 2025…
For people leery of plant-based meats as not being natural, or more processed than real meat: “Animals raised on factory farms are not natural,” Loria argues. “They’re bred to grow at extreme rates. They are genetically manipulated.” He says the world needs to shift to more plant-based eating and away from intensive farming practices to create a more secure food system. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEO: