While three quarters of respondents ate meat, a fifth said they had consciously reduced their meat consumption. Pexels

While three quarters of respondents ate meat, a fifth said they had consciously reduced their meat consumption. Pexels

The TNS Ilres question of the month polled 512 people aged 16 and above during January about their meat-eating habits. While three quarters said they ate meat, a fifth said they had consciously reduced their meat consumption.

This shows a progression compared to January 2017 when the same survey was conducted and 85% of respondents ate meat and only 6% reduced meat consumption.

In the 2018 survey, vegetarians, pesco-vegetarians and vegans made up 2% of respondents respectively, changing little compared to 2017. The survey author did not speculate as to what would prompt the evolution but it could be linked to the 2017 food scandal when traces of the insecticide fipronil were found in some foods. But it also reflects a global trend in the developed world prompted partly by climate concerns.

According to the European Environment Agency, the consumption of meat and dairy products contributed close to 25% of the environmental impacts from the total consumption of all goods and services in the EU-27 in 2014. For example, producing 1kg of beef requires 617 liters of water, a measurement known as the blue water footprint. The raising of livestock and production of fodder generates 15% of all global greenhouse gas emissions.

Experts from the farming investors platform Fairr Initiative, meanwhile, suggested in a December 2017 report that a meat tax will likely be introduced within the next ten years to discourage meat consumption and compensate for damage to the environment.

Concerns have also been raised about the negative health effects of meat consumption. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, announced that it had classified processed meat as carcinogenic.

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