We Are Eating Less Meat ...

[Psamathe]

Or am I a cynic? Because when I heard the report that in the UK we are now eating 17% less meat than 10 years ago my 1st thought was how food manufacturers/retailers have probably reduced the amount f meat in prepared foods. So your 400g tray cottage pie now contains now has even less meat and even more potato. Your processed meat products now have more "filler" (bread, flour) and less meat. Chicken has more injected water ...

I suppose a lot must depend on how they actually measured the amount of meat being eaten now and 10 years ago.

Meat eating drops by 17% over a decade in the UK – new research
...
To accurately estimate how much meat the survey respondents were eating, we excluded all the other components of dishes containing meat. If a person wrote that they ate beef lasagne for dinner in their food diary, for instance, we only measured the quantity of beef and excluded all other ingredients....

Ian

[merseymouth]

Wow , Don't bother with Cottage Pie, switch to the healthier "Woolton Pie". Don't beef over it . MM

[freeflow]

It probably means that a proportion of the population can't afford as much meat as 10 years ago.

[Psamathe]

It probably means that a proportion of the population can't afford as much meat as 10 years ago.

Many many years since I've purchased cigarettes but I wonder how much of the reduction in smoking the high cost of tobacco products explains (or as a contributory factor).

Ian

[661-Pete]

It probably means that a proportion of the population can't afford as much meat as 10 years ago.

Is it that meat is becoming more expensive, or that some of the population are becoming less well off? (the cut in UC comes to mind).

As to the price of meat - well, I'm the wrong person to ask, but I did observe that you can still get a whole chicken, say, for less than £2.50 per Kg. That doesn't look like overpriced meat to me.

As to measuring how much meat this country consumes, would tonnage passing through the abattoirs be a good indication? Of course this doesn't take account of imports and exports.

[Jdsk]

I suppose a lot must depend on how they actually measured the amount of meat being eaten now and 10 years ago.

As to measuring how much meat this country consumes, would tonnage passing through the abattoirs be a good indication? Of course this doesn't take account of imports and exports.

This study used self-reporting:

"To find out, we analysed trends from the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey. The data we looked at came from four-day food diaries completed by around 1,000 people in each survey year."

The study is at:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanp ... X/fulltext

Jonathan

[axel_knutt]

I don't know where people manage to put it all, my total annual meat consumption is less than a third of the UK average (25.2kg/79.5kg), even though 79% of my dinners contain some meat.

[Oldjohnw]

I don't know where people manage to put it all, my total annual meat consumption is less than a third of the UK average (25.2kg/79.5kg), even though 79% of my dinners contain some meat.

See the food waste thread!

[axel_knutt]

Annual meat consumption data:

81.5kg Our World in Data https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/dail ... untry=~GBR
79.5kg National Food Strategy, P.123 https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/the-report/
80kg UN Food & Agriculture Organisation*
50kg DEFRA*
36kg National Diet and Nutrition Survey*
31.5kg Lancet https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPd ... %2900228-X
18.6kg National Food Strategy Evidence Pack, P.56 https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/the-report/

*Cited in National Food Strategy Evidence Pack, P.115

With a 4:1 range in estimates, I'm not sure where they think they have room to detect changes as small as 17%.

[Jdsk]

With a 4:1 range in estimates, I'm not sure where they think they have room to detect changes as small as 17%.

Have you had a chance to read the paper?

There are problems with self-reported studies. But different values being reported with different methods of measurement isn't one of them.

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

With a 4:1 range in estimates, I'm not sure where they think they have room to detect changes as small as 17%.

Have you had a chance to read the paper?

There are problems with self-reported studies. But different values being reported with different methods of measurement isn't one of them.

Jonathan

(I've not read the paper but) I assume they are measuring a change rather than an amount so, as long as their method of measurement remains consistent over the reporting period, it can be a valid change even if the actual amount is subject to variation through different measurement method.

What would be invalid would be to e.g. use Our World in Data for the 10 years ago point and 18.6kg National Food Strategy Evidence Pack for the today amount and start talking about the amazing reduction they've found!!

At least that is my (maybe incorrect) understanding.

Ian

[Jdsk]

With a 4:1 range in estimates, I'm not sure where they think they have room to detect changes as small as 17%.

There are problems with self-reported studies. But different values being reported with different methods of measurement isn't one of them.

(I've not read the paper but) I assume they are measuring a change rather than an amount so, as long as their method of measurement remains consistent over the reporting period, it can be a valid change even if the actual amount is subject to variation through different measurement method.

Yes.

Jonathan

[Hellhound]

I/we eat meat every day.
Every day without fail.
So I have to disagree.

[Jdsk]

I/we eat meat every day.
Every day without fail.
So I have to disagree.

Why?

The average consumption in the relevant population falling by 17% over 10y is consistent with your eating meat every day. Or doubling your consumption. Or anything else.

Jonathan

[Syd]

Interesting article as it seems to jump from eating meat to vegetarianism with nothing in the middle.

Unless I missed it I saw nothing about seafood and the meats concentrated on seemed limited to farming and exclude game.

On that basis nothing I have eaten today would count in their list despite it having most definitely had a meat element to it, along with seafood elements.

Edit: Forgot about the small amount of chicken in the aperitif which would, of course, count.