May 29, 2007

Canada's meat, grains and yogurt consumption on the rise

Canadians are eating more pork, cereal, yogurt, beef and poultry, according to a new report by Statistics Canada (StatsCan).

The report says consumption of total grain products-which included pasta, bakery products and cereal-based snacks-amounted to a record high of 61.0 kilograms (kg) per person in 2006, up from 60.3 kg in 2005.

The amount of yogurt Canadians ate rose to 4.9 litres in 2005 and 2.2 litres a decade earlier while milk consumption fell from 59.1 litres in 2005 to 58.7 litres in 2006, according to StatsCan.

While the amount of beef available from the food supply has remained relatively stable since the mid-1970s to the early 1990s, StatsCan said the amount of beef available for consumption rose 13.6 kg per person to 13.9 kg in 2006.

Poultry consumption also edged up from 13.3 kg per person in 2005 to 13.4 kg in 2006 while pork also increased 9.5 kg to 9.7 kg available per person, despite a drop of 13.5 percent in 2005.

Pork ranked the lowest in consumption compared to beef and poultry because of pork exports as global demand surges as well as with good exchange rates. 

Exports of pork meat are 44 percent higher compared to local consumption in Canada, reports StatsCan.