The United Nations has identified the livestock sector as one of the top contributors to climate change and environmental degradation worldwide (Steinfeld, 2006). This sector is degrading land, contributing 18% of the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change, depleting and polluting water, reducing biodiversity (Steinfeld, 2006) and is having a negative social impact for workers around the world (McMichael, 2007). The consumption of meat varies widely between nations and the rich and the poor with the global average somewhere around 100g per person per day (McMichael, 2007), with rich countries like Canada consuming 296g and poorer ones such as Kenya averaging 39g per person per day (Millstone, 2008). It has been suggested that the global average should be reduced to 90g per person per day with the disparity between the high- and low-consumer reduced (McMichael, 2007). Given that in most industrialized countries meat consumption is a part of daily life, there are likely significant barriers to overcome to reach this target. This paper attempts to explore some of these barriers.
Barrier I: There are few sustainable options widely available
One of the barriers to reducing the environmental impact of meat consumption is that sustainable and more environmentally friendly options are not widely available.
Most large grocery stores do not offer many sustainable options for meat. PriceSmart Foods at Marine Way offers OceanWise fish products and organic eggs, but no other sustainable or organic meat products. SaveOn Foods does sell certified organic beef, pork and poultry at its Cambie St location. Safeway on West 12th Ave does not carry any organic meat, but the location at Broadway and Commercial does have a limited selection. These large grocery stores are the destination of choice for many customers. Other smaller chains such as Nesters, Thrifty’s, Bosa Foods, and Donald’s Market tend to offer a few more options from local or organic suppliers (source: personal experience and phone calls to stores). There are specialty health or natural food stores such as Whole Foods/Capers Community, Choices Markets, Famous Foods, or Planet Organic, that consistently offer local and sustainable meat products. There are also a number of alternative sources of sustainable meat such as farmer’s markets, organic delivery services, and buying direct from farmers.
Despite the fact that sustainable options are not widely or always available at conventional large grocery stores, there are a number of other food stores that offer sustainable and local options to customers. Thus it could be a barrier, depending on where one lives and shops for food.
Restaurants, on the other hand, offer fewer options than food stores. During class we reviewed a number of menus from local Vancouver restaurants ranging from large chains to high-end establishments. Very few restaurant menus contained foods that are local, seasonal, organic, or certified sustainable. As well, unless the restaurant is specifically vegetarian or vegan, the majority of meals have a large component of animal origin.
Barrier II: Sustainable meat costs too much
Another barrier to choosing sustainable meat options is that it costs more than conventional industrially produced meat. In many cases this is true because in general it costs more money to maintain an organic farm and raise meat sustainably. However, the majority of costs associated with producing industrial meat are externalized and paid for by the public in increased health care costs, tax subsidies and widespread environmental degradation (Imhoff, 2010). A German study determined that the external costs of conventional pork are 0.34 to 0.47 euro per kilogram higher than organic pork (Korbun, 2004). This means that one should add 44 to 75 cents per kg or $0.20-0.34 per pound to the price of conventionally produced pork in order to include the higher external costs of conventional meat (see note).
Table 1: Comparison of conventional and sustainable pork prices (Gelderman, n.d.; Safeway, n.d.)
| Item | Gelderman Farm | Safeway (weekly special) | Safeway + external costs |
| Pork roast | $5.25/lb | $4.49/lb | $4.69-4.83/lb |
| Pork chops | $6.80/lb | $4.99/lb | $5.19-5.33/lb |
| Thick sliced bacon | $6.50/lb | $7.49/500 g ($6.80/lb) | $7.69-7.83/lb |
In Table 1 the price of pork from a local sustainable farm (Gelderman Farm) is compared to weekly flyer price from Safeway for a number of pork items. The sustainable price is slightly higher for pork roast and chops (10-35%), but is actually lower for the bacon (4%). However, if the external costs are added to the conventional prices, the prices become more comparable. The external costs of fish, poultry or beef have not been published in depth, but it is possible that the same patterns would exist.
Some prices for sustainable salmon, chicken and beef available in Metro Vancouver are given below to give some examples for other meats as well.
Community Supported Fishery salmon prices:
· $250 for share for 35lbs of whole salmon ($7.14/lb or $3.25/kg)
Rockweld Farms - chicken prices:
· boneless/skinless breast $12.00/lb
· wings $4.95/lb
· whole bird $3.80/lb eggs $4.00/dozen
Rockweld Farms - beef
· lean ground beef $5.50/lb
· steaks $11.00/lb
· tenderloin $20.00/lb
· roast $10-12.00/lb
· sausage $9.95/lb
Barrier III: Consuming meat on a regular basis is required or desired
Many people believe that eating meat on a regular basis is both required to maintain proper nutrition and is also a desirable food source. Eating meat daily or even multiple times per day has become very common over the last half century. In 1969, Canadians consumed 44.12 kg per year of red meat (boneless) and 10.47 kg of poultry (boneless). In 2007, our red meat consumption had decreased to 40.74 kg but our poultry consumption had gone up to 23.54 kg, giving an overall increase of 9.69 kg, or 18% (Stats Canada, 2008). Clearly, the majority of Canadians believe that meat consumption is an important part of eating. Many people eat meat because of cultural reasons, force of habit, lack of knowledge of other protein sources, lack of vegetarian options when eating out or simply because they enjoy the taste. People also enjoy the freedom to choose meat and most people would take offense at being told what they can or cannot eat.
To explore this barrier further, a survey was created and sent out to colleagues and friends as well as posted on Facebook to elicit responses. The complete survey questions and results can be found in Appendix A. A total of 84 people responded, the majority of which resides in BC and consider themselves at least somewhat aware of the environmental impacts of meat consumption.
They consume meat either at dinner (39.0%) or lunch and dinner (30.5%); 20.7% consume meat less than 4 times per week. Only 6.1% of those surveyed purchase sustainable meat products all of the time, but over 75% do at least once in a while.
Although most people agreed that eating less meat is a great way to make a difference, the major barrier identified to doing so is that “meat is tasty”.
Other barriers identified were:
· no desire to reduce meat consumption requirement for meat protein in diet feel hungry or tired if no meat is eaten convenience or habit
· eating vegetarian is time consuming concern that vegetarian diet is not healthy lack of knowledge or information
Despite these barriers, most (72.6%) agreed that they would aim to reduce their meat consumption; although many pointed out that they consume much less than 200g of meat per day already. Unfortunately, 83.8% of respondents had not heard of the Meatless Monday campaign and only one person indicated that they participate in it. As well, 80.0% agreed that the government should not regulate meat consumption as a way to tackle climate change and other serious environmental problems.
Summary
There are likely many other barriers to reducing meat consumption for other people. The survey was sent to a limited number of people, who consider themselves fairly environmentally aware. If a survey was done across a broader range of people, there would be other barriers identified. The availability of sustainable meat is a barrier, but in Vancouver, it is not actually that hard to find. There are stores that carry more or less, but most people in Vancouver probably have access to a store that does offer sustainable selections. Outside of Vancouver, this could likely be a very different story and the availability would indeed be a significant barrier to some. Although the cost of sustainable meat is still higher than ‘conventional’ or factory raised meat, this can be offset by consuming less meat overall. This would both be healthier for the planet and those eating the meat as they would avoid the antibiotics and hormones. Finally, there are still a lot of perceived barriers, even among the very ‘green’ or more environmentally aware BC population. People still believe that in order to be healthy they need to eat meat and lots of it. This is clearly untrue as there are millions of healthy vegetarians and vegans, and it isn’t required to cut meat out altogether, but just reduce consumption.
I believe that the message has thus far not been clear to consumers that they are only being asked to reduce their consumption, not give up meat altogether. The Meatless Monday campaign is a great start, but clearly it is not widely known and needs some more advocacy behind it.
Reference List:
Gelderman Farms. Shop price list. Retrieved March 5, 2011, from http://www.geldermanfarms.ca/shop/.
Imhoff, Daniel. 2010. CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories. Myth: Industrial Food is Cheap. http://www.cafothebook.org/thebook_myths.htm.
Korbun T et al. (2004). Was kostet ein Schnitzel wirklich? Ökologisch-ökonomischer Vergleich der konventionellen und der ökologischen Produktion von Schweinefleisch in Deutschland. Institute for Ecological Economy Research. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from http://www.ioew.de/en/publications/publication_single/Was_kostet_ein_Schnitzel_wirklich/.
McMichael, AJ et al. (2007). Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health. The Lancet. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61256-2.
Millstone, E & Lang, T. (2008) The Atlas of Food: Who eats what, where and why. Berkely, California: University of California Press.
Rockweld Farm. Product price list. Retrieved March 5, 2011 from http://rockweldfarm.com/products.html.
Safeway Canada. Weekly flyer. Retreived March 6, 2011, from http://safeway.ca.inserts2online.com/I2O_MainFrame.jsp?pageNumber=1&drpStoreID=148.
Skipper Otto’s Community Supported Fishery. Retrieved March 5, 2011, from http://wildbcsalmon.org.
Statistics Canada (2008). Food available by major group, per person – Meats and fish. Retrieved March 6, 2011 from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/21-020-x/2007001/5211828-eng.htm.
Steinfeld, H et al. (2006). Livestock’s Long Shadow: Environmental issues and options. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Note:
0.34 – 0.47 euro/kg is $0.44 - $0.61at an exchange rate of 1.3 (current rate) and $0.59-$0.75 at an exchange rate of 1.6 (rate in 2004)
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Challenge to readers if you so desire:
- Ask at least on grocery store or restaurant if they carry sustainable or organic meat
- Commit to eating less meat (Meatless Monday for example?) so that you can afford sustainable meat. Side note: my meat-loving husband has just committed to only eating meat 3 times a week! If he can do it, anyone can!
- Tell one friend or colleague what you've learned about meat consumption
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