Ernest Dempsey – Meat as food is losing its popularity among consumers in the United States, reveals the latest report by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).Referring to the USDA report, In Defense of Animals (IDA) notes that the second half of 2011 sees a dramatic drop in chicken/broiler meat consumption in the US such that the third-quarter production of chicken/broiler meat is less by nearly 1.3% than that in 2010. This decrease in production is expected to continue in the fourth quarter of 2011. Chicken meat has been running in oversupply against a low demand in the US this year and the trend seems to continue.
Earlier, in February this year, the Daily Live Stock Report also found that the per capita consumption of meat, poultry, and fish in the US declined by nearly one pound per person in 2010, as calculated by the Livestock Marketing Information Center. This marks a steady decline in non-vegan food consumption over the past four years. As per findings of the calculation, the consumption of meat/chicken/fish stood at 224 pounds per person in 2010 as against 237.5 pounds in 2004. The most striking drop was seen in beef consumption in 2010, which reached an all time low since the Daily Live Stock Report started recording food consumption calculations in 1955.
The above findings may be attributed to more than one factor: maybe people can’t afford to buy more meat as before and/or they are choosing non-meat food over meat. The IDA blog writes that economy may be a factor in the decline of meat consumption in America but increased awareness about issues involving farm animals may also be responsible for the observed decline in meat consumption. Books on vegan food have recently been causing increased awareness among the public against the health risks associated with meat consumption. Janice Stanger’s The Perfect Formula Diet is one such work wherein she documents findings of studies not revealed heretofore. Her book shows that vegan diet is the only safe and natural diet for humans.
Animal rights advocates are also actively discouraging people from slaughtering animals for food when better food choices are available. IDA’s World Go Vegan Week is one of many animal-saving and vegan food promoting campaigns that are urging on people to revise meat-eating out of compassion for animal life. In the words of IDA, it wants to make the word "vegan" a household word.