Meat Consumption in Germany

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The Federal Market Association for Cattle and Meat estimates meat consumption in Germany at around 60 kilograms of meat consumed per person per year. The total consumption including the production of animal feed, industrial recycling and losses was around 88 kilograms per capita in 2013. This puts Germany in 21st place in a global comparison.

history

While in 1950 a kilogram of pork cost 1.6 percent of monthly net earnings in Germany, in 2002 it was only 0.28 percent. The price per kilogram rose during this period from the equivalent of 2.19 to 7.09 euros, the average wage from the equivalent of 136 to 2480 euros.

In Germany, meat consumption per capita in the late Middle Ages was over 100 kilograms per year. In the following centuries it continued to decline and in the 19th century it reached the lowest value of an average of 14 kg of meat. Between 1961 and 2011, meat consumption in Germany rose from an average of 64 kg to 90 kg per capita per year. In 2014 and 2018, the meat consumption per capita and year varied between 87.7 and 89.4 kg and the estimated meat consumption between 59.8 and 61.1 kg, according to the Federal Association of the German Meat Industry. Most meat is consumed in the USA with around 120 kilograms per capita per year, least in Bangladesh and India with around four kilograms. On average around the world, around 42 kilograms of meat are consumed per capita per year.

Current meat consumption in Germany

Meat and sausage consumption by federal state and gender

Since 2000, according to calculations based on slaughtering statistics, meat consumption has remained largely constant between 59 and 62 kg per capita per year. This corresponds to an average daily meat consumption of 160 - 170 g / day per head.

The National Consumption Study II comes to a lower result on the basis of consumer interviews carried out in 2005 and 2006. 8,278 women and 7093 men from the German population were interviewed. The evaluation showed a mean daily consumption of meat, sausage and dishes made from meat (such as sausage salad, hamburgers) of 83 g / day for women and 160 g / day for men. Extrapolated to the year, this results in a meat consumption of 44.3 kg per person per year.

According to the prognosis of the Heinrich Böll Foundation , publisher of the “ Fleischatlas ”, a German consumes an average of between 635 and 715 animals in his life. The stated range is based on the change in consumer behavior with regard to types of meat. Of the around 60 kg of meat consumed per capita in 2013, around 30 kg were meat products, i.e. sausage and ham. In 2013, 38.1 kg of pork, 11.6 kg of poultry, 8.9 kg of beef, 0.6 kg of sheep and goat meat and 1 kg of other types of meat were consumed per capita in Germany. Meat and sausage consumption in Germany depends on both gender and the federal state. Women eat about half as much meat as men. Meat consumption in Germany falls as the level of education and income rise. The consumption of meat or meat and sausage products as organic food is estimated at up to 2 percent.

Criticism of meat consumption in Germany

Barbara Unmüßig said at the presentation of the Meat Atlas 2013, which was jointly presented by the Heinrich Böll Foundation , the Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) and the monthly newspaper “ Le Monde diplomatique ” in Berlin, that in order to deal with meat production and consumption to maintain in Germany, large quantities of feed would have to be imported (see also foreign trade of the German food industry ). This contributes to the threat to the rainforest. Due to the high demand for meat in Germany, antibiotics are increasingly used in factory farming.

According to the nature and environmental protection organization WWF Germany , meat consumption has an impact on land and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and the fertility of the agricultural land. Four fifths of the land used for agriculture worldwide today would be used by animal husbandry alone. 35% of the grain grown worldwide has now been used for animal husbandry; in the EU it is on average more than 60%. In a large-scale, three-part study, WWF Germany comes to the conclusion that firstly, the “land footprint” of a meat-based diet is very large; secondly, a low-meat diet and the avoidance of food waste lead to significant savings in agricultural land consumption and, thirdly, to significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions would.

In June 2016 the Greens in the Bundestag called for an end to extremely cheap meat offers in the supermarket. The aim of a concept paper by the parliamentary group is to reorganize animal husbandry together with agriculture in an animal-friendly manner over the next 20 years. The German Farmers' Association, however, rejects an agricultural turnaround .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Federal Association of the German Meat Industry eV: Annual Report 2013/2014 .
  2. ↑ Figures based on the hypothesis of Wilhelm Abel , quoted from Massimo Livi Bacci: Europa und seine Menschen: Eine Bevölkerungsgeschichte , CH Beck Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-406-44700-7 , p. 69.
  3. ↑ Food Balance Sheets . Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  4. ↑ Annual Report 2017/2018 (PDF) "Federal Association of the German Meat Industry eV". P. 14. Accessed September 5, 2019.
  5. ↑ Statistics from FAO , Handelsblatt , accessed on June 13, 2015
  6. ↑ Future Foundation for Agriculture : Meat and animal feed . In: weltagrarbericht.de .
  7. ↑ Per capita meat consumption in Germany until 2015. In: Statista. Retrieved July 20, 2016 .
  8. ↑ Meat Atlas 2018: Data and facts about animals as food (PDF) Heinrich Böll Foundation . P. 13. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
  9. ↑ a b National Consumption Study II Results Report Part 2. (pdf, 2 MB) Max Rubner Institute , Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture , November 4, 2008, p. 307 , accessed on August 28, 2019 (Section 4.1.9 S 44 Tab 4.25).
  10. ↑ Meat Atlas extra 2014: Waste and Waste (PDF; 4 MB) Heinrich Böll Foundation . Pp. 16-19. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
  11. ↑ Study Heavy Food for Mother Earth (PDF; 3.8 MB) by WWF 2014, p. 5. Accessed on March 9, 2015.
  12. ↑ WWF: Nutrition
  13. ↑ Greens demand a ban on dumping prices for meat , Wirtschaftswoche, accessed on June 14, 2016.
  14. ↑ Farmers' Day: Association head is against agricultural turnaround , NDR, June 30, 2016