Conclusions
Absolute vegetarianism is not a major threat to the meat industry. Although the number of vegetarians has risen over the past 10 years, the overall levels, for example in the United Kingdom, has remained between 2 and 5%. The real threat to the meat industry in the future is from reduced meat eating and semivegetarianism. Recent polls in the United Kingdom have estimated the prevalence of reduced meat eating at 26 to 40%. It is due to a number of features including:
- Pursuit of the vegetarian ethic which advocates abstention from meat as a route to harmony with animals and nature.
- Self-interest which is based on the belief that vegetarianism results in:
- Freedom from catching BSE from eating meat.
- Reduced risk of heart disease by avoiding redmeats.
- Improved weight control and body image.
- Avoids eating pesticides, hormone and antibiotic residues.
Semivegetarianism is particularly strong amongst young females and appears to be linked to a feminist outlook. It could persist through to adulthood, either out of conviction or from habit, and it could proliferate through the families that todays young semivegetarians eventually raise. When their children are brought-up in a semivegetarian household and with the outlook that semivegetarianism is the normal and right thing to do, reduced meat eating will become firmly established.
In recent times the principal reason for being vegetarian or semivegetarian has been concern about animals and animal welfare (Beardsworth and Keil, 1991a). Whilst the primary concerns amongst adult vegetarians are with "humaneness" and with "natural" images, in adolescents there is probably more emphasis on "humaneness" and "being beautiful". Teenage semivegetarians and non-vegetarians share similar outlooks but to different degrees. They both subscribe to prevailing social ideologies on environmentalism, animal rights and (amongst women) feminism. An important difference between semivegetarians and non-vegetarian adolescents is that about one third of semivegetarian and vegetarian females regard red meat as fattening, whereas this attitude is less common in non-vegetarians. Linked to this, vegetarians are usually more satisfied with their current weight status than non-vegetarians (Sims, 1978).
A reason for eating less meat which has not been adequately investigated is whether many people perceive that it is unnecessary to eat a lot of meat. Are there many people who reduce their meat consumption because they feel that they no longer need it? Another uncertainty is the proportion of adolescent females who specifically modify their meat-eating habits in anticipation of controlling their weight. It is known that over a quarter of normal weight high-school girls in Australia consider themselves to be overweight, and that the most common forms of self-enforced weight loss are taking exercise, drinking large amounts of water and skipping meals. Whether reduced meat eating is an additional specific feature is not clear.
The meat and livestock industries have little to gain from trying to convert full vegetarians back to an omnivorous diet. Instead, they need to address the concerns which lead to reduced meat eating in would-be semivegetarians:
- Improving the image of the meat and livestock industry.
- Improving the image of meat and meat-eating.
- Countering the vegetarian ethic.
Contact for Enquiries
Rural Affairs Coordinator
Sector Performance Policy
MAF Policy
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Phone: +64 4 894 0675
Fax: +64 4 4 894 0745
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