January 15, 2014

German environmental and animal welfare groups have warned that by 2050, world meat consumption will climb dramatically, especially in Asia, resulting in "devastating" land use and health consequences.

Leading German environmental groups published a report, called the "2014 Meat Atlas", which predicts soaring consumption to 470 million tonnes worldwide by mid-century with severe environmental and societal repercussions. The figure would be 150 million tonnes more than at present.

 

About 70% of arable land worldwide is used to produce fodder to feed livestock such as pigs and cattle in industrialised facilities, leaving lesser land for poor, subsistent communities, said the Heinrich-Böll Foundation.

 

By 2022, India and China, both countries with expanding consumer-oriented middle classes, would account for 80% of anticipated growth in meat production, the report said. Demand would also increase in 'boom' nations such as Brazil, South Africa and Russia, outstripping Europe and the US where meat sales have stagnated.

 

In 2012, residents in Germany consumed 60 kg of meat on average, while in China, per head consumption is about 38 kg, and Africa, at 20 kg.

 

Foundation president Barbara Unmüssig said that highly-industrialised meat production in Asian nations aspiring to Western levels could bring side-effects such as food contamination scandals and misuse of antibiotics and hormones in livestock.

 

Unmüssig said that the decoupling of grazing animals from pasture through industrialised mass production was leading to "ruinous" economics and fatal consequences for small subsistence farming families. One meat meal per week was sufficient, Unmüssig said.

 

Bund agricultural expert, Reinhild Benning, said that soaring demand for fodder-production areas would have further serious impacts on rainforests, soils and water catchments, for example, through pesticide usage.

 

Prices for basic foodstuffs would climb, impacting most heavily on the poor. The study's authors also warned against the import of hormone-treated meats, should negotiations lead to a free trade pact between the US and EU.

 

The German food industry association, in response to the study, accused the authors of trying to proscribe a "certain type of lifestyle" on consumers.

 

"The industry delivers safe and high-value food products, both for vegans and for those who like to eat a schnitzel," said the association's director, Christoph Minhoff.

 

Annual livestock slaughter in Germany includes 58 million pigs, 630 million chickens and 3.2 million, according to the study.