According to provisional data from Germany’s Federal Agricultural Information Centre (BZL), the per capita consumption of animal meat last year was lower than at any time since consumption was first calculated in 1989, at 57.3 kilograms per person – meaning an average of 750 grams less than was consumed in Germany than in the previous year.
Compared to 2019, 2.4 percent less pork and 2.7 percent less beef and veal was produced in 2020. However, the data also showed that net production of poultry meat increased by 1.7 percent, highlighting the urgent need for plant-based chicken producers such as fast-growing vegan fried chicken brand VFC, which is currently expanding its operations from the UK into mainland Europe including Germany.
Encouragingly; the governmental report also showed that the transportation of live animals also decreased in 2020: in comparison to 2019, 14.8 per cent fewer live animals were imported and eleven per cent fewer were eleven percent less exported. Furthermore, imports and exports of meat products and canned food decreased by 7.8 percent and 6.5 percent respectively.
Such findings corroborate a study as reported by vegconomist last November which revealed that the number of vegans had doubled from 1.3 million in 2016 to 2.6 million in 2020 — a total of 3.2 percent of the population.
Speaking to The Guardian last September on the fact that more than 40% of Germans are cutting down on meat, Psychologist Christopher Bryant of Bath University commented: “The social implications here are potentially quite profound. The view that being a carnivore is ‘normal’ is part of the lay moral reasoning for continuing to eat meat. But once that is a minority view, and meat replacement options become cheaper and tastier, the trend is likely to continue in one direction.”
