Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1.1
Average British diet fat consumption (g/person/day)
(FAOSTAT) 2009
Table 1.2
Annual consumption of meat in the EU (kg/person/
year) (FAOSTAT) 2009
Food group
Consumption (g/person/day)
Bovine
Sheep
and goat
Pig
meat
Poultry
Milk and dairy products
(excluding butter)
21
Austria
16.4
1.1
65.6
17.9
Meat
36.5
Belgium
18.0
1.6
33.6
21.5
Fish
1.5
Bulgaria
4.9
1.7
23.4
21.4
Eggs
2.8
Cyprus
5.8
6.0
37.6
26.9
Total fats (including butter
and vegetable oils)
60.3
Czech Republic
8.0
0.2
44.7
25.1
Denmark
26.0
1.1
48.3
18.9
Fruit
0.7
Estonia
12.5
0.6
26.8
19.4
Vegetables
0.5
Finland
18.2
0.5
35.5
18.8
Cereals
4
France
25.5
3.3
31.0
22.3
Germany
12.8
0.8
54.6
17.3
Greece
18.1
13.1
27.7
13.7
Source: Reproduced with permission from FAO (2011). © FAO.
Hungary
4.6
0.1
43.8
26.4
Ireland
22.1
4.2
33.6
26.0
Italy
23.6
1.3
42.8
17.3
Consumer demand is now for leaner meat in smaller,
waste-free cuts, which is easy and quick to prepare. On
the livestock breeding and rearing side, changes have
taken place with emphasis on animals which produce
leaner carcases. Appropriate grading and certification
standards are applied in meat plants. Quite apart from
the health aspect, overfat stock are too costly to produce,
and farmers will have to realise that energetic competi-
tion will have to be faced from vegetarians (sincere
and insincere), 'animal welfarists' and a wide range of
branded convenience and 'health foods, many not based
on a meat content.
In the United Kingdom, the annual consumption of
meat and meat products, which represent about 26% of
the total household expenditure on food, amounted to
approximately £16 037 million in 2011.
It is estimated that only 60% of the world's population
eats 18 kg or more of meat per year, which is regarded as
the nutritional minimum. The remaining 40% repre-
sents some 1500 million people who consume less than
this amount. This stark fact is exemplified by countries
in equatorial Africa and OPEC where the average annual
consumption is only 10 kg per head and in the under-
developed countries of Asia where it is as low as 3 kg.
Table 1.2 shows the average annual meat consumption
per person in the European Union (EU) (FAOSTAT).
Latvia
6.5
0.3
34.8
19.5
Lithuania
4.6
0.2
50.6
22.6
Malta
20.7
1.5
30.5
26.0
The Netherlands
18.1
0.9
34.0
22.7
Poland
4.9
0.1
50.4
21.4
Portugal
18.3
2.4
42.9
28.7
Romania
7.8
3.2
31.9
21.0
Slovakia
5.0
0.2
36.2
17.4
Slovenia
20.8
1.0
39.5
26.5
Spain
14.3
2.8
48.9
27.5
Sweden
24.9
1.4
36.0
15.4
United Kingdom
19.8
5.29
26.2
32.2
Source: Reproduced with permission from FAO (2011). © FAO.
Many factors operate to determine levels of food
animal populations, economics playing the principal
role, but disease outbreaks, weather conditions, over-
production, consumer preference, feed availability, etc.
are also important reasons, along with trade barriers
imposed by individual states, often on ill-defined, even
unjustified, grounds.
Beef production globally, in the next 20 years, is
expected to rise by only by 6%: 61 million tonnes carcase
weight in 2010 and 64.5 tonnes in 2025.
Sheep meat production on a global basis is rising
slowly, primarily as a result of rising production in
China. Expected improved world prospects for the wool
trade had encouraged extra production in Australia. In
eastern Europe and countries of the former Soviet Union,
production continues to contract. World pork consump-
tion has increased by 27% from 1997 to 2005 with China
being the largest producer (Orr and Shen, 2006).
Poultry production continues to expand throughout
the world, but growth rate has slowed somewhat in the
World livestock production
In general, those countries with the highest meat con-
sumption rates are also the major producers. Some parts
of the world such as Argentina, Australia, New Zealand
and Denmark are large exporters of meat and meat
products, while the United States, Britain and Germany
import large quantities, although the former also have a
considerable export trade as have many other countries.
