{"id":1185,"date":"2014-01-25T10:52:23","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T23:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1185"},"modified":"2014-01-25T10:52:23","modified_gmt":"2014-01-24T23:52:23","slug":"flexitarians-9-meat-consumption-reduction-1990-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1185","title":{"rendered":"Flexitarians &#8211; 9% meat consumption reduction 1990-2009"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>meat consumption in the developed world is reducing<\/li>\n<li>FAOSTAT indicates that in Western Europe, Europeans ate 87kg of meat per capita in 2009 vs 95.5kg in 1990<\/li>\n<li>This is meat reduction, not increased vegetarianism<\/li>\n<li>Vegetarianism is reported at 9-10% in Italy and Germany<\/li>\n<li>Three quarters of Dutch consumers say they have at least one meat free day per week; 40% say they eat no meat at least three days per week<\/li>\n<li>Flexitarianism is not cool &#8211; low identification factor<\/li>\n<li>contributing factors include: rising meat prices; poor economic conditions; environmental concerns; animal welfare; health concerns<\/li>\n<li>Some interesting trends in developing countries with rising incomes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.44444465637207px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px;\">\u201cGiven the enormous environmental impact of animal-protein consumption and the apparent sympathy of consumers for meat reduction, it is surprising that politicians and policy makers demonstrate little, if any, interest in strategies to reduce meat consumption and to encourage more sustainable eating practices.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.44444465637207px; line-height: 22.39583396911621px;\">\u00a0\u201cIt is expected that increases in meat consumption will taper as incomes rise, a pattern that is already evident for China, as shown by the almost straight line of rising meat consumption against logarithmic increases in income. For Brazil, however, it seems that the tapering is less pronounced,\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a style=\"line-height: 1.5;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Financial-Industry\/Plant-based-diets-The-rise-and-rise-of-flexitarian-eating\">http:\/\/www<\/a><a style=\"line-height: 1.5;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Financial-Industry\/Plant-based-diets-The-rise-and-rise-of-flexitarian-eating\">.foodnavigator.com\/Financial-Industry\/Plant-based-diets-The-rise-and-rise-of-flexitarian-eating<\/a><\/p>\n<h1 class=\"headline\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; font-size: 31px; color: #2d578d; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: normal;\">Plant-based diets: The rise and rise of flexitarian eating<\/h1>\n<div class=\"author_info\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;\"><a class=\"comment_l\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d; background-image: url('http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/extension\/custom_implement\/design\/news_site\/images\/sprites\/icons.png'); padding: 0px 0px 4px 28px; float: right; font-size: 14px; background-position: 0px -908px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Financial-Industry\/Plant-based-diets-The-rise-and-rise-of-flexitarian-eating\/?utm_source=newsletter_weekly&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Newsletter%2BWeekly&amp;c=LJYfE2HPSTLR0WYXvE5WD9ztBz3ZgOAG#\">Post a comment<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_pict\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; float: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"outline: none; position: static;\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/var\/plain_site\/storage\/images\/users\/editorial\/caroline-scott-thomas\/1290859-6-eng-GB\/Caroline-SCOTT-THOMAS_dnm_author_pict.jpg\" width=\"70\" height=\"70\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"author\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 5px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px; color: #666666;\">By\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/109565165159081804022?rel=author\" target=\"_blank\">Caroline Scott-Thomas+<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"date\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px; color: #666666;\">22-Jan-2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clear\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"large_image\" style=\"outline: none; position: relative; margin: 0px; padding: 1px; border: 1px solid #f0f0f0; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; vertical-align: top;\" title=\"\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/var\/plain_site\/storage\/images\/publications\/food-beverage-nutrition\/foodnavigator.com\/financial-industry\/plant-based-diets-the-rise-and-rise-of-flexitarian-eating\/8714933-1-eng-GB\/Plant-based-diets-The-rise-and-rise-of-flexitarian-eating_strict_xxl.jpg\" width=\"610\" height=\"343\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"related_subjects\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: medium; line-height: normal;\">\n<p class=\"topics\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px; color: #666666;\">Related tags:\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/content\/search?SearchText=flexitarian&amp;FromNews\">Flexitarian<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/content\/search?SearchText=meat+consumption&amp;FromNews\">Meat consumption<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/content\/search?SearchText=vegetarian&amp;FromNews\">Vegetarian<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/content\/search?SearchText=plant-based+diets&amp;FromNews\">Plant-based diets<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/content\/search?SearchText=meat&amp;FromNews\">Meat<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"topics\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px; color: #666666;\">Related topics:\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/On-your-radar\/Sustainable-sourcing\">Sustainable sourcing<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Financial-Industry\">Financial &amp; Industry<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Product-Categories\/Fruit-vegetable-nut-ingredients\">Fruit, vegetable, nut ingredients<\/a>,<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Product-Categories\/Health-and-nutritional-ingredients\">Health and nutritional ingredients<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Product-Categories\/Meat-fish-and-savoury-ingredients\">Meat, fish and savoury ingredients<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Product-Categories\/Proteins-non-dairy\">Proteins, non-dairy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story\" id=\"story\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px; color: #333333; line-height: 1.6em; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;\">\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6em;\">Meat reduction \u2013 or \u2018flexitarian\u2019 eating \u2013 is on the rise. In this special edition article, FoodNavigator asks why are consumers reducing meat, and how prevalent is the trend?<\/p>\n<div class=\"news_info\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; max-width: 162px; float: right;\">\n<div class=\"embed_related_news\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">\n<h4 style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 14px; text-transform: uppercase;\"><span class=\"color_1\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #ff9300;\">RELATED NEWS:<\/span><\/h4>\n<h5 style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-color: #f0f0f0; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;\"><a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Financial-Industry\/Friends-of-the-Earth-Meat-industry-needs-radical-rethink\">Friends of the Earth: Meat industry needs radical rethink<\/a><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-color: #f0f0f0; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;\"><a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Financial-Industry\/Higher-meat-and-dairy-prices-offset-lower-cereal-prices-in-2013-FAO\">Higher meat and dairy prices offset lower cereal prices in 2013: FAO<\/a><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-color: #f0f0f0; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;\"><a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Regions\/Middle-East\/I-ll-take-the-T-bone-Middle-East-wants-expensive-cuts-of-meat\">I\u2019ll take the T-bone: Middle East wants expensive cuts of meat<\/a><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-color: #f0f0f0; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;\"><a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Legislation\/How-will-higher-meat-demand-affect-food-prices\">How will higher meat demand affect food prices?<\/a><\/h5>\n<h5 style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-top: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; border-top-color: #f0f0f0; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;\"><a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Financial-Industry\/Lack-of-progress-on-meat-and-fish-waste\">Lack of progress on meat and fish waste<\/a><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"Skyscraper1\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: left;\">\n<div id=\"sas_embed_Skyscraper1\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">\n<table class=\"skyscraper\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-collapse: collapse; width: 120px;\">\n<tbody style=\"outline: none; position: static;\">\n<tr style=\"outline: none; position: static;\">\n<td class=\"skyscraper\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 20px 20px 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;\"><a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/sas.decisionnews.com\/diff\/86\/2923931\/go0.asp?2923931%3B25880%3B1112281415658627860%3B7949653899%3BS%3Bsystemtarget=%24qc%3d1307678120%3b%24ql%3dmedium%3b%24qpc%3d2000%3b%24qpp%3d0%3b%24qt%3d164_988_4785t%3b%24b%3d16310%3b%24o%3d11061%3b%24sh%3d768%3b%24sw%3d1280%3B9553044%3Bclickvars=\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"img9553044\" style=\"outline: none; position: static; border-style: none;\" alt=\"Food Vision\" src=\"http:\/\/ced.sascdn.com\/diff\/86\/2923931\/FV_Skyscraper.gif\" width=\"160\" height=\"600\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">In large parts of the developing world, meat consumption is increasing, but in some developed nations \u2013 including in parts of Europe \u2013 it is declining. According to FAOSTAT figures, Western Europeans ate about 87 kg of meat per capita in 2009 compared to 95.5 kg in 1990 \u2013 a drop of 9% in less than 20 years.<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">This reflects a trend of meat reduction, rather than of rising vegetarianism, although the proportion of Europeans who identify as vegetarian has increased too, with rates varying from about 1-2% in some countries, to about 9-10% in Italy and Germany.<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">Meanwhile, a new dietary pattern has cropped up. Dubbed flexitarianism, it refers to meat reduction rather than fully fledged vegetarianism.<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\"><b style=\"outline: none; position: static;\">Growing trend \u2013 but it\u2019s not cool<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">Germany and the Netherlands lead the way in this \u2018flexitarian\u2019 way of eating.\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Science-Nutrition\/The-trend-for-flexitarianism-Consumers-are-reducing-meat-intakes-say-Dutch-researchers\" target=\"_self\">Research from Wageningen UR<\/a>\u00a0last year revealed that more than three-quarters of Dutch consumers say they have at least one meat-free day per week \u2013 and 40% eat no meat at least three days a week.<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\"><i style=\"outline: none; position: static;\">\u201cReducing meat consumption is a growing trend, but the majority of people keep to their current pattern of meat consumption,\u201d\u00a0<\/i>say the researchers, led by Hans Dagevos from the university\u2019s Agricultural Economics Research Institute, adding that only 13% of consumers described themselves as flexitarians.<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\"><i style=\"outline: none; position: static;\">\u201cReducing meat consumption is not seen as &#8216;cool&#8217;. There is a low identification factor.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">But even if there is little acceptance of the term \u2018flexitarian\u2019, what is behind this shift in eating patterns?<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\"><b style=\"outline: none; position: static;\">Meat-free movements<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">There are several key reasons: In the past few years, rising meat prices have coincided with a struggling economy, meaning that many western consumers have cut consumption on the back of shrinking incomes; shoppers are becoming more aware of the environmental impacts of eating meat; animal welfare issues have also gained attention; and consumers have started to question how healthy it is to eat large quantities of meat.<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">Meat reduction has also been boosted by regional meat-free movements, generally coordinated by NGOs, including vegetarian, animal protection and environmental organisations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">In\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/sspp.proquest.com\/archives\/vol9iss2\/1207-031.dagevos.html\" target=\"_self\">another recent paper on sustainability issues and meat reduction<\/a>\u00a0, Dagevos wrote:<i style=\"outline: none; position: static;\">\u00a0\u201cGiven the enormous environmental impact of animal-protein consumption and the apparent sympathy of consumers for meat reduction, it is surprising that politicians and policy makers demonstrate little, if any, interest in strategies to reduce meat consumption and to encourage more sustainable eating practices.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">According to his analysis, flexitarians tend to value non-meat protein sources more highly than their heavy-meat eating counterparts. These include cheese, eggs, nuts, mushrooms and pulses, alongside meat sources such as chicken and fish.<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\"><b style=\"outline: none; position: static;\">Rising meat consumption elsewhere<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">Meanwhile, meat consumption continues to rise in developing countries \u2013 but could those in developing countries be convinced to adopt a similar way of \u2018flexitarian\u2019 eating, even as rising incomes allow them to choose more meat products for the first time?<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\">A\u00a0<a style=\"outline: none; position: static; color: #2d578d;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foodnavigator.com\/Legislation\/How-will-higher-meat-demand-affect-food-prices\" target=\"_self\">recent paper from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI<\/a>\u00a0) pointed out that meat consumption does not rise endlessly in tandem with income, and this pattern is expected even in emerging markets \u2013 although it depends on the nation\u2019s food culture.<\/p>\n<p style=\"outline: none; position: static; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;\"><i style=\"outline: none; position: static;\">\u201cIt is expected that increases in meat consumption will taper as incomes rise, a pattern that is already evident for China, as shown by the almost straight line of rising meat consumption against logarithmic increases in income. For Brazil, however, it seems that the tapering is less pronounced,\u201d<\/i>\u00a0it said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>meat consumption in the developed world is reducing FAOSTAT indicates that in Western Europe, Europeans ate 87kg of meat per capita in 2009 vs 95.5kg in 1990 This is meat reduction, not increased vegetarianism Vegetarianism is reported at 9-10% in Italy and Germany Three quarters of Dutch consumers say they have at least one meat &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1185\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Flexitarians &#8211; 9% meat consumption reduction 1990-2009<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,10,13,22,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts-data-points","category-healthy-habits","category-nutrition","category-policy","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1186,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1185\/revisions\/1186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}