A survey presented on ProVeg, an NGO promoting plant-based solutions for food, shows that meat consumption in Germany has dropped to its lowest level in three decades. Data indicates that Germans are eating 9.8 percent less pork, 8.2 percent less beef and veal, and three percent less poultry meat, as compared with 2021.
In addition to eating less meat, sales of plant-based foods throughout Europe rose by six percent, with the German market leading the way with a 42-percent increase in plant-based retail sales, equating to €1.91 billion between 2020 and 2022.
Plant-based meat sales were €642.8 million in 2022, with plant-based milk sales totaling more than €552.3 million in 2022. Most other plant based food solutions such as plant-based seafood, meats, creams, and desserts also showed substantial gains.
Statistics show that the average German ate approximately 52 kilograms of meat last year, down around 4.2 kilograms from 2021. That 52 kilograms is the lowest mark since the government began tracking meat consumption in 1989.
In addition, the survey claims that up to 55 percent of German consumers now consider themselves to be “flexitarian” in their diet. The flexitarian diet is described as “a flexible eating style that emphasizes the addition of plant or plant-based foods and beverages, incorporates dairy and eggs and encourages meat to be consumed less frequently and/or in smaller portions.”
Proponents of such diets claim that it is far less cruel to animals, while having the side benefit of supposedly saving the climate.
Possibly no one in Germany is happier to see this development than Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who in February called for an 80-percent reduction in German meat consumption.
“What is the point of cruelty to animals so that we eat unhealthy food and ruin the climate in the process?” Lauterbach told German magazine Der Spiegel.
“One thing is clear: we will have to eat much less meat,” Lauterbach said. “In the long term, we could reduce meat consumption by 80 percent. But not only in Germany, but worldwide, because it is simply very difficult to produce meat without massive CO2 waste.”
Lauterbach trumpeted a vegan or vegetarian diet to address the climate “crisis.”
“I think an initiative that calls for a vegetarian and vegan diet, that sets incentives, is the right thing to do. I know that this is very controversial, but a successful policy also requires courage,” Lauterbach added.
German Minister for Food and Agriculture Cem Özdemir, who is a vegetarian and a Green Party member himself, sounded a conciliatory note with meat eaters when given his new job. But he also let them know who the boss was when it came to agriculture.
“Those who want to eat meat are welcome to do so. Those who produce meat may also do so, but with due regard for animal welfare, climate protection and not to the detriment of our environment,” Özdemir declared shortly after his nomination.
The agreement for the new coalition government in Germany even included a commitment to extol plant-based food solutions instead of meat for consumers.
“We will strengthen plant-based alternatives and advocate for the approval of innovations such as alternative protein sources and meat substitute products in the EU,” the agreement read.
Although not as dramatic as the German decline, meat consumption is falling all over Europe, with nations such as Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom reporting declines in meat consumption and an increased demand for plant-based foods.
The United States appears to be holding steady in meat consumption, although climate hysterics are hoping to attack American meat consumption in the coming years.
A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture document reports, “Over the last decade (2012–21), per capita meat disappearance [a measure of how much meat is consumed] has generally been on an upward trend, with an overall increase of 22.5 pounds. The latest USDA forecast indicates that in 2022, U.S. consumers will have access to 224.6 pounds of red meat and poultry on a per capita retail weight basis.”
But, overall, the global war against farmers and livestock appears to be having some effect, at least in Europe, where onerous EU regulations — particularly in The Netherlands and Slovenia — seem intent on limiting the populations’ food options due to erroneous climate concerns.
