Germans Eating Less Meat Than at Any Time Since Records Began

People in Germany ate less meat last year than at any time since records began, according to new figures from the country's Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE).

Meat consumption fell to 55 kilograms per person in 2021, down 2.1kg on 2020, which had itself been a record low. It's the lowest figure since the BLE started calculating consumption in 1989. Pork fell the most, down 1.2kg per person, followed by beef and veal (down 600g) and poultry (down 200g). The poultry drop is notable because chicken consumption had been rising until recently.

Production is falling too. Germany produced 8.3 million tonnes of meat by carcass weight in 2021, around 2.4% less than the year before, and imports of pork and beef products fell 6.8%.

The best part is that the government statisticians themselves name the reason. In its official release (there's an English summary here), the BLE says, in our translation:

Possible reasons for falling meat consumption could be the tendency towards a plant-based diet. The continued pandemic-related reduction in eating out in restaurants, canteens or at events could also have influenced this development.

That's no surprise when you look at how Germans describe themselves. In the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture's 2020 nutrition report, 55% of people surveyed called themselves flexitarians, meat eaters who deliberately go without at least some of the time. Only 26% said they eat meat or sausage every day, down from 34% in 2015, and almost half had already bought a vegetarian or vegan alternative.

For a country famous for bratwurst and schnitzel, that's quite a shift.

This is great news for German hearts. The World Health Organization classifies processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen and red meat as a probable carcinogen, and the largest study of its kind linked meat consumption to nine major diseases. Fewer sausages, longer lives.

Germany has been heading this way for a while. The environment ministry banned meat at its official functions back in 2017, and the country's biggest sausage maker Rügenwalder Mühle now sells more veggie than meat. Across the Atlantic, Americans have cut their meat intake by 20%, and the EAT-Lancet scientists say the world must halve red meat. This year Burger King's Leicester Square flagship went 100% vegan for a month.

The wurst is behind us.