Drop in European meat consumption predicted

Swinkels believes meat consumption will drop in comparison to other sources of proteins. In his view the sector is not paying sufficient attention to this development.

Change in eating patterns

Most important reason for eating less meat in his eyes in a change in eating patterns, as people tend to snack more instead of taking three meals a day. In addition, people do eat meat products as long as it cannot be recognised as such – no bones or fat please!


Pork chops will thus be replaced by fillets – being worth more but the total weight of meat consumed decreases.

Italy and Belgium

Italy is already showig this tendency as only 30% of the inhabitants have a meal twice a day, mainly due to more women being in work.


In Belgium, the total amount of meat, excluding poultry and charcuterie, consumed per family in-house decreased from 44.7 kg in 1995 until 32.2 kg ten years later, the Flemish centre for agro- and fishery marketing (VLAM) reported.


All in all, however, Swinkels does not think the total amount of animals produced will decrease as the number of consumers is growing slightly and demand is expected to grow in Eastern Europe and China.


Related websites:
• Dutch central organisation for the meat industry (COV)
• Flemish centre for agro- and fishery marketing (VLAM)


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