MLBA11: October / November 2009
The future of pork in the land of vegetarians
Jacques Pomerleau, president of Canada Pork International, said they became interested in that South Asian market after learning that meat consumption in India is expected to double within the next ten years, if not earlier.
In a country where 30 percent to 40 percent of the people are vegetarians and per capita meat consumption is among the lowest in the world, the projection, at least to some, could be too liberal, if not absurd. In 1999, according to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics, India was No. 36 in per capita pork consumption in the world at a measly 7 kg. At the time, Denmark was No. 1 at 73.7 kg, followed by the Czech Republic at 67.7 kg and Spain at 64 kg. The US was No. 17 at 31.7 and the UK, with 25 kg, at No. 25.
Indians are not really known as pork eaters. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the total Indian meat consumption in 2000, was only 10 lbs., with pork accounting for only 6 percent. In fact they eat more fish (51 percent) and beef (29 percent) than pork and poultry (6 percent).
This is not to say, however, that pork has no future as an industry in that country. As Indian-American restaurateur Vijay Puniani points out, India has a population of over a billion people. Of these, only the vegetarians and the Muslims do not eat pork, he tells Restaurant News, an American food industry publication.