July 13, 2011

India's meat consumption rises to record levels

 

 

Indians are consuming more meat than ever before, despite a strong culture of vegetarianism and a religious taboo about consuming beef, as diets change and hygiene improves in the processing industry.

 

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said India's per capita consumption of meat is running at 5.0-5.5 kilogrammes a year, the highest since it began compiling records, reflecting a wider taste for protein-rich diets in developing countries.

 

Experts say strong economic growth, which has led to increasingly affluent, better-travelled consumers, is partly the reason for the rise, leading to new opportunities for supermarkets and restaurants to cater to more varied palates.

 

"Indians are losing their inhibitions and getting adventurous," said Jaydeep Mukherjee, executive chef at Indigo Delicatessen, one of Mumbai's most popular foreign cuisine restaurants. "Beef (buffalo) and pork steaks are regular favourites."

 

"Meat consumption, which was once dependent on parental sanction, is going up rapidly with more liberal attitudes and greater Western influences," added Mohit Khattar, managing director of gourmet food chain Nature's Basket.

 

For Khattar, eating non-vegetarian food is no longer a luxury while the standard of domestic meat production has become more hygienic, improving consumer confidence.

 

Non-vegetarian items accounted for a sixth of Nature's Basket's total sales of nearly US$13.3 million in the last financial year, marking 64% growth on-year.

 

India produces 10.6 million tonnes of meat and fish a year according to the FAO, but the country still remains a stronghold of vegetarianism.

 

There are no official government figures on the number of vegetarians, but in 2006, the newspaper, The Hindu, conducted a nationwide survey which concluded that up to 40% of the country consumes dairy products and eggs but no meat, the highest number in the world.

 

Meat-eating, particularly beef, is still unacceptable for the majority Hindu population, who consider the cow a sacred animal and their slaughter for consumption is banned in most Indian states under a law with tough sanctions.

 

India's second-largest religious group, the sizeable Muslim community, shuns pork products. Seafood and chicken, though, remain popular among all religious groups.

 

India's per capita consumption of broiler chicken has doubled to 2.26 kilogrammes per year in 2010 from 1.08 kilogrammes a decade ago, according to the US-based Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute.

 

India's per capita meat consumption rates, however, are well below the average in Asia of 27 kilogrammes per capita, as well as the rest of the world, which eats 38 kilogrammes per capita, according to FAO figures from 2007, the most recent figures available.

 

"Per-capita meat consumption continues to rise in India and other countries," said FAO Asia-Pacific spokesman Diderik De Vleeschauwer.

 

"While not quantified as yet, (the) FAO is confident that meat consumption has increased and is still further increasing," he added.