Global Meat Research Articles

Sustainable Meat: Looking through the Eyes of Australian Consumers

Sustainability is a complex and multifaceted concept that comprises environmental, economic, social, and cultural dimensions. Growing consumer concerns over the impacts of global meat production and consumption have led to increasing interest in sustainability initiatives and the use of sustainability labels. Yet, an understanding of what sustainability means to consumers in the context of meat and how consumers relate production-related credence attributes of chicken meat to sustainability remains limited. Between September 2019 and January 2020, an exploratory research study was conducted using a multi-method approach. Participants completed an online survey before participating in a series of eye-tracking choice tasks followed by in-depth interviews. The study revealed that the environmental dimension of sustainability is most important to consumers’ definition of a “sustainable food system”. Likewise, the sustainability of chicken meat products was most commonly associated with the perceived environmental impact of chicken meat production, followed by animal welfare aspects. Consumers made incorrect inferences about some sustainability labels and these inferences sometimes contributed to positive associations with sustainability. Consumers frequently associated a higher price with higher sustainability, indicating a belief that “doing the right thing” might cost more. This study provides new insights regarding consumers’ perceptions of production-related credence attributes and sustainability labels.

The role of meat appetite in willfully disregarding factory farming as a pandemic catalyst risk

Most infectious diseases are zoonotic, “jumping” from animals to humans, with COVID-19 no exception. Although many zoonotic transmissions occur on industrial-scale factory farms, public discussions mainly blame wild animal (“wet”) markets or focus on reactionary solutions, posing a psychological obstacle to preventing future pandemics. In two pre-registered studies early in the 2020 pandemic, we examined whether British adults fail to recognize factory farming in causing epidemics, and whether such dismissal represents motivated cognition. Cross-sectional data (Study 1, N = 302) confirmed that people blame factory farms and global meat consumption less than wild animal trade and consumption or lack of government preparedness, especially among meat-committed persons. Experimental exposure (Study 2, N = 194) to information blaming factory farms (vs. wild animal markets) produced lower endorsement of preventive solutions than of reactionary solutions, which was exacerbated among meat-committed persons. These findings suggest that people, especially those highly committed to eating meat, willfully disregard solutions targeting animal agriculture and global meat consumption to prevent future pandemics precisely because such solutions implicate their dietary habits. Better understanding motivated beliefs about the causes of and solutions to pandemics is critical for developing interventions.

Beyond Exotic Wet Markets: COVID-19 Ecologies in the Global Meat-Processing Industry in Brazil

In this article we argue that the overvaluation of exotic narratives about wild animal consumption and wet markets conceals how the global agribusiness establishes unhealthy ecologies. Increasing infection rates from the new coronavirus registered among meat industry workers, their families, and the community, resulted in the suspension of several establishments in this sector in Brazil. If the meat processing industry cannot be considered entirely safe, why are risks to health, morality, and civility often represented by the unregulated practices of wet markets considered exotic? This paper shows that the global meat processing industry weaves a myriad of intimate encounters between humans, animals, highly toxic chemicals, organic waste, and precarious work relationships. They are unhealthy ecologies where coexistence, infection, risk, and death are always involved. We suggest a multispecies approach to analyse and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic; instead of the exaltation of contagion and the boundaries of contention, there needs to be an effort to establish integrated policies for the health and joint care of humans, animals, and environments.

Antimicrobial Resistance and Livestock Trade for Low and Middle Income Countries: Regional Analysis of Global Coordination Policies

Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to global health, aggravated by the use of antimicrobials in livestock production. Mitigating the growing economic costs related to antimicrobial use in livestock production requires strong global coordination, and to that end policy makers can leverage global and national food animal trade policies, such as bans and user fees. Evaluation of such policies requires representing the interactions between competing producers in the global meat market, which is usually out of the scope of statistical models. For that, we developed a game-theoretic food system model of global livestock production and trade between 18 countries and aggregate world regions. The model comprises the largest producing and consuming countries, the explicit interconnections between countries, and the use of antimicrobials in food animal production. Our model allows us to provide policy insights beyond standard literature and assess the trade-off between trade, cost of a policy, and antimicrobials-induced productivity. We studied three scenarios: global increased user fees on antimicrobials, a global ban of meat imports from Brazil, and a decrease in China's meat consumption. We found that a user fee that increases the price of antimicrobials by 50% globally leads to a 33% reduction in global antimicrobial use. However, participation of developing and emerging countries in the coordination scheme is jeopardized, since they become less competitive for meat sales compared to developed countries. When meat imports from Brazil are banned globally, importers of Brazil's meat would turn primarily to the U.S. to supplement their demand. Lastly, meeting China's medium-term lower meat consumption target would not affect global antimicrobial use, but could increase China's antimicrobial use by 11%. We highlighted the importance of trade for the outcome of a policy and concluded that global cooperation is required to align the incentives of all countries toward tackling antimicrobial resistance.

White Paper Cell Cultured Meat

FAO forecasts that the global meat production needs to increase by 50% to provide quality protein for the ten billion people living on planet earth by 2050. Meat fits in a healthy diet and is a good source of essential proteins, B-vitamins and several minerals (i.e. selenium and iron). A growing world population will require in 2050 about twice more food, produced on twice less arable land. Good digestible proteins may be a limiting factor in the future. Meat production is seen as less sustainable with negatives impacts on animal welfare. There is a search for alternative proteins to replace part of the animal proteins that are currently used in abundance in the diet of most developed and affluent countries.

Duckweed protein supports the growth and organ development of mice: A feeding study comparison to conventional casein protein.

As global population growth and meat consumption increases, sustainable alternatives to conventional protein-rich fodder crops for livestock are needed to reduce negative environmental impacts. Duckweed, a small floating aquatic plant, can generate 5 to 10 times higher protein yields than conventional land-grown crops. Although some in vivo feeding trials with duckweed have been conducted, those measuring animal weight are limited, and those examining organ development are nonexistent. To secure broad acceptance of new protein sources, such controlled studies are critical. This study measured the food intake, growth, and final organ and adipose tissue mass of male CF-1 mice fed a semi-purified diet containing casein or diets in which 10% or 25% of the casein was replaced with duckweed protein (DWP). Proximate analysis showed that the DWP preparation used contained 39.9% protein (w/w), and contained all of the essential amino acids with Met as the limiting amino acid. The average growth rates were not significantly different among the treatment groups: 0.21g/day; 0.24g/day; and 0.25g/day for the control, 10%, and 25% DWP protein diets, respectively. The daily food intake of both DWP diets was 6.5% to 8.0% higher than the control diet, but feeding efficiency did not differ among diets. The relative weight of the liver, spleen, kidneys, heart, and epidydimal fat, and colon length were not significantly different between treatment groups. The results from this study show that replacement of up to 25% dietary casein with DWP has no adverse effects on the growth rate and final organ and adipose tissue weights of laboratory mice. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Duckweed can produce 5 to 10 times more protein per area than land-grown crops such as soybean. In this study, up to a 25% replacement of casein with duckweed protein had no observable effect on the growth or organ development of laboratory mice. Thus, duckweed has the potential to be used as a protein supplement for livestock, poultry, and fish, thereby decreasing environmental impacts from land-grown crops used for animal feed.

Engineering Murine Adipocytes and Skeletal Muscle Cells in Meat-like Constructs Using Self-Assembled Layer-by-Layer Biofabrication: A Platform for Development of Cultivated Meat

Global meat consumption has been growing on a per capita basis over the past 20 years resulting in ever-increasing devotion of resources in the form of arable land and potable water to animal husbandry which is unsustainable and inefficient. One approach to meet this insatiable demand is to use biofabrication methods used in tissue engineering in order to make skeletal muscle tissue-like constructs known as cultivated meat to be used as a food source. Here, we demonstrate the use of a scaffold-free biofabrication method that forms cell sheets composed of murine adipocytes and skeletal muscle cells and assembles these sheets in parallel to create a 3D meat-like construct without the use of any exogenous materials. This layer-by-layer self-assembly and stacking process is fast (4 days of culture to form sheets and few hours for assembly) and scalable (stable sheets with diameters >3 cm are formed). Tissues formed with only muscle cells were equivalent to lean meat with comparable protein and fat contents (lean beef had 1.5 and 0.9 times protein and fat, respectively, as our constructs) and incorporating adipocyte cells in different ratios to myoblasts and/or treatment with different media cocktails resulted in a 5% (low fat meat) to 35% (high fat meat) increase in the fat content. Not only such constructs can be used as cultivated meat, they can also be used as skeletal muscle models.

Companies, investors will want animal-free protein

In the world’s grocery stores, alternative meat, egg, and dairy products are moving into space once occupied by animal-derived foods. The trend, which began with revamped plant-based burgers and milk, will accelerate this year—powered by investments in production and technology, industry experts say. The market for plant-based meat in the US reached $939 million in 2019, up 18% from 2018, according to the Good Food Institute, an industry trade group. The investment bank UBS says the global plant-based meat market could be worth $50 billion by 2025. Plant-based meat has already captured 2% of the US packaged-meat market, though it has yet to make a dent in sales of animal meat, which are growing, data from the US Department of Agriculture show. And the multinational food firms JBS, Nestlé, Tyson Foods, and Unilever have all recently launched or acquired plant-based meat businesses. Meanwhile, alternative-protein companies such as Impossible Foods, Perfect

Displacement Risk in Agricultural Commodity Markets: The Impact of Plant-Based Meat

Plant-based meat is an innovative and sustainable type of food that has been received with enthusiasm by consumers and investors. It is also a threat for the demand of traditional meat, and for those crops used primarily as animal feed. In 2019, 59 % of global corn and 83 % of global soybean production were used as inputs for meat production. In this paper we consider plausible global plant-based meat adoption scenarios for 2030 and couple them with production, efficiency and price elasticity measures from the literature. We generate simulated corn and soybean negative demand shifts and their associated price change distributions, relative to a baseline scenario without plant-based meat. Expected (std. dev) declines for corn and soybean prices under low plant-based meat adoption scenarios are -13% (4%) and -21% (6%) respectively. For high adoption scenarios, corn and soybean price declines are -23% (5%) and -35% (8%). These projections are economically very significant. Permanent shocks of this magnitude are comparable, but of opposite sign, to that caused in 2005-2010 by the ethanol mandate on the price of corn and reported in the literature. Corn and soybean producers, at the farm and regional level, are at risk of suffering from technological displacement.

Leg health of meat chickens: impact on welfare, consumer behaviour, and the role of environmental enrichment

The Australian and global chicken meat industries have benefited from rapid improvements in the efficiency of chicken meat production that have been predominantly achieved through genetic selection, optimisation of bird nutrition and improved bird health. However, this has also resulted in morphological changes in the bird with an increase in the prevalence of leg health disorders. Compromised leg health can cause pain and lameness and bodes poorly for bird wellbeing, bird mortality, and economic returns. There are also implications for the consumer who is increasingly mindful of animal welfare and is demanding more welfare friendly products. Accurate on-farm assessment of bird leg health has challenges due to the diversity of leg disorders and the variety of techniques used to assess their severity and impact. Overall prevalence of leg disorders shows great variability between properties (farms) and flocks. Opportunities to improve bird leg health have been the focus of considerable research which has frequently included an evaluation of environmental enrichment as a means to reduce lameness and improve bird mobility. To this end, currently in Australia, 78% of chicken meat is produced under the conditions of the Australian RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme, which requires perches in the birds’ environment. However, the value of perches in providing enrichment and improving bird welfare is unclear. Therefore, this review explores animal welfare and consumer attitudes towards meat chicken welfare, describes leg disorders, outlines techniques for assessing leg health and discusses opportunities to enrich the birds’ environment to improve bird mobility and leg health.

Productive responses of European crossbred and zebu cattle fed whole shelled corn diets, with or without sugarcane bagasse

Context Grain-based diets result in lower starch utilisation compared with traditional diets with corn silage. The best use of yellow dent corn starch, in addition to increasing animal performance, can be obtained by the inclusion of an effective fibre source in grain-based diets and/or the use of more efficient genetic groups in a tropical feedlot. Aims We assessed productive responses of young Nellore (N) bulls and 1/2 Angus × 1/2 Nellore (AN) bulls fed whole shelled corn diets, with or without sugarcane bagasse (SB). Methods A completely randomised design in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement (two genetic groups and two diets) was used. Twenty-eight young bulls (14 N and 14 AN) were fed diets containing 0 or 31.6 g of SB/kg DM in a feedlot. Key results The average daily gain and gain:feed ratio were not affected by the diets, but AN bulls showed greater average daily gain and gain:feed ratio than N bulls (P = 0.001 and P = 0.006, respectively). The genetic groups did not affect nutrient intake, but N bulls had greater (P = 0.016) DM digestibility than AN bulls. The consumption of DM, crude protein and digestible energy was not affected by the diets. The digestibility of neutral detergent fibre, crude protein and NFC was lower (P = 0.001) for the diet with SB. The neutral detergent fibre intake was greater (P = 0.001) in the diet with SB. The DM intake variation was smaller (P < 0.05) in diets with SB and for N bulls. Conclusions The inclusion of SB up to 31.6 g/kg DM in whole shelled corn diets did not affect the productive responses of young bulls. Crossbred bulls, despite expressing lower digestibility of some nutrients and larger DM intake variation, have greater productive potential compared with Nellore bulls in a tropical feedlot with whole shelled corn diets. Implications The use of crossbred young AN bulls in tropical feedlots is a viable alternative for increasing productivity and global meat production.

Prospects for the development of the global meat market

Prospects for the development of the global meat market

Understanding the Political Challenge of Red and Processed Meat Reduction for Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems: A Narrative Review of the Literature.

Background: Diets high in red and processed meat (RPM) contribute substantially to environmental degradation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the global burden of chronic disease. Recent high-profile reports from international expert bodies have called for a significant reduction in global dietary meat intake, particularly RPM, especially in high-income settings, while acknowledging the importance of animal-sourced foods to population nutrition in many lower-income countries. However, this presents a major yet under-investigated political challenge given strong cultural preferences for meat and the economic importance and power of the meat industry. Methods: A theoretically-guided narrative review was undertaken. The theoretical framework used to guide the review considered the interests, ideas and institutions that constitute food systems in relation to meat reduction; and the instrumental, discursive and structural forms of power that actors deploy in relation to others within the food system. Results: High production and consumption levels of RPM are promoted and sustained by a number of factors. Actors with an interest in RPM included business and industry groups, governments, intergovernmental organisations, and civil society. Asymmetries of power between these actors exist, with institutional barriers recognised in the form of government-industry dependence, trade agreement conflicts, and policy incoherence. Industry lobbying, shaping of evidence and knowledge, and highly concentrated markets are key issues. Furthermore, prevailing ideologies like carnism and neoliberalism present embedded difficulties for RPM reduction. The literature noted the power of actors to resist meat reduction efforts exists in varying forms, including the use of lobbying, shaping of evidence and knowledge, and highly concentrated markets. Conclusion: There are a number of political challenges related to RPM reduction that contribute to policy inertia, and hence are likely to impede the transformation of food systems. Research on policy efforts to reduce RPM production and consumption should incorporate the role of power and political feasibility.

Plant-Derived Natural Antioxidants in Meat and Meat Products.

The global meat industry is constantly evolving due to changes in consumer preferences, concerns and lifestyles, as well as monetary, geographical, political, cultural and religious factors. Part of this evolution is the introduction of synthetic antioxidants to increase meat and meat products’ shelf-life, and reduce meat spoilage due to lipid and protein oxidation. The public perception that natural compounds are safer and healthier per se has motivated the meat industry to replace synthetic antioxidants with plant-derived ones in meat systems. Despite several promising results from in vitro and in situ studies, the effectiveness of plant-derived antioxidants against lipid and protein oxidation has not been fully documented. Moreover, the utility, usability, marketability and potential health benefits of natural antioxidants are not yet fully proven. The present review aims to (i) describe the major chemical groups of plant-derived antioxidants and their courses of action; (ii) present the application of spices, herbs and fruits as antioxidants in meat systems; and (iii) discuss the legislative framework, future trends, challenges and limitations that are expected to shape their acceptance and mass exploitation by the meat industry.

The spatial and temporal dynamics of global meat trade networks

Rapid increases in meat trade generate complex global networks across countries. However, there has been little research quantifying the dynamics of meat trade networks and the underlying forces that structure them. Using longitudinal network data for 134 countries from 1995 to 2015, we combined network modeling and cluster analysis to simultaneously identify the structural changes in meat trade networks and the factors that influence the networks themselves. The integrated network approach uncovers a general consolidation of global meat trade networks over time, although some global events may have weakened this consolidation both regionally and globally. In consolidated networks, the presence of trade agreements and short geographic distances between pairs of countries are associated with increases in meat trade. Countries with rapid population and income growth greatly depend on meat imports. Furthermore, countries with high food availability import large quantities of meat products to satisfy their various meat preferences. The findings from this network approach provide key insights that can be used to better understand the social and environmental consequences of increasing global meat trade.

Meat reduction, vegetarianism, or chicken avoidance: US omnivores’ impressions of three meat-restricted diets

PurposeMeat consumption has a variety of implications in society. While various types of meat-restricted diets exist to address this, not enough is known about how the average meat consumer views different avenues to lessening their intake. In response, this study aims to assess US omnivores’ impressions of three meat-restricted diets.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was administered to a cross-sectional, census-balanced sample from Nielsen of 30,000+ US adults. Omnivores (N = 928) were randomized into one of the three conditions where they were asked about their perceptions of a vegetarian diet, a reduced-meat diet or a chicken-free diet as individuals not currently following that dietary pattern.FindingsThe findings showed that omnivores had a more favorable perception of a reduced-meat diet on a greater number of study variables as compared to the vegetarian or chicken-free diets. The research also demonstrated that a majority of omnivores were in the precontemplation stage of cognitive change, suggesting that most American omnivores are not actively demonstrating a readiness to alter their meat consumption in the ways presented.Originality/valueThis research is the first to examine the comparative trends around these three diets among omnivores. It also speaks to how the desirability of meat restriction varies by type of approach, i.e. elimination or reduction, and if the latter, what type. The findings may be of relevance for efforts to reduce global meat consumption for ethical, health, or environmental reasons.

Animal Agriculture and Climate Change in the US and UK Elite Media: Volume, Responsibilities, Causes and Solutions

ABSTRACT Animal agriculture is a major producer of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to 14.5% of global emissions, which is approximately the same size as the transportation sector. Global meat consumption is projected to grow, which will increase animal agriculture’s negative impact on the environment. Public awareness of the link between animal food consumption and climate change is low; this may be one of many obstacles to more effective interventions to reduce meat consumption in Western diets, which has been proposed by many research institutions. This study analyzes how much attention the UK and US elite media paid to animal agriculture’s role in climate change, and the roles and responsibilities of various parties in addressing the problem, from 2006 to 2018. The results of the quantitative media content analysis show that during that period, volume of coverage remained low, and that when the issue was covered, consumer responsibility was mentioned more than that of governments or large-scale livestock farms. In similar fashion, a range of options around personal dietary change was far more prominent in the media discussion of solutions than government policies, reforming agricultural practices or holding major animal food companies accountable for their emissions.

An Uncertain Fate for the EU Pig Sector: Potential Consequences of the 2019 African Swine Fever Outbreak in East Asia

SummaryThe presence of African Swine Fever (ASF) and its impacts on the global pig meat market has been gaining increased attention in recent times. Although more than 2,400 ASF events have been observed across the world since 2016, none of them have had the unprecedented consequences of the current outbreak in China. In an attempt to control the disease that has been spreading through East Asia since 2018, massive slaughtering has been taking place, with important consequences for both Chinese and international pork prices. With around half of the Chinese herd having to be slaughtered, a number of questions arise with regard to the prospects for the pork market and the uncertainties about the paths that prices will follow in responding to long‐term market fundamentals. This article focuses on the impact of the ASF outbreak in East Asia on the European pig sector. In particular it analyses potential global pork market developments under two different recovery paths, employing a combination of an Equilibrium Displacement Model and the AGMEMOD modelling system, to provide results at EU and global levels to 2030. Our simulation results point to a short to medium‐term expansion of production capacity in response to higher market prices.

Determining the Authenticity of Shark Meat Products by DNA Sequencing.

Given that the global shark meat market is poised to grow in future years, the aim of this study was to use DNA sequencing of the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 (NADH2) mitochondrial genes to examine the market of shark meat products in Italy. This made it possible to analyze patterns of species utilization and commercialization of threatened, endangered and/or prohibited species, focusing on fraudulent activities in the shark food chain in order to propose seafood safety and environmental sustainability solutions. The study shows that the labeling of shark meat products generally lacks comprehensive information, thus making it difficult for consumers to make informed purchasing decisions and fails to comply with European Union (EU) legislation regarding seafood labelling. Molecular investigation reveals a high mislabeling rate (45.4%), highlighting widespread use of cheaper species either in order to replace species that are better known and more popular, or else in order to sell various threatened species. Considering that seafood mislabeling can circumvent the management of sustainable fisheries and facilitate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, the routine use of genetic analysis should be encouraged among control and enforcement agencies in order to implement effective management measures. This would help to build a species-specific reporting system for all catches, and enhance control measures, in order to prevent illegal activities connected with shark catches and trade around the world.

Role of microRNAs in myogenesis and their effects on meat quality in pig - A review.

The demand for food is increasing day by day because of the increasing global population. Therefore, meat, the easiest and largely available source of protein, needs to be produced in large amounts with good quality. The pork industry is a significant shareholder in fulfilling the global meat demands. Notably, myogenesis-development of muscles during embryogenesis- is a complex mechanism which culminates in meat production. But the molecular mechanisms which govern the myogenesis are less known. The involvement of miRNAs in myogenesis and meat quality, which depends on factors such as myofiber composition and intramuscular fat contents which determine the meat color, flavor, juiciness, and water holding capacity, are being extrapolated to increase both the quantity and quality of pork. Various kinds of microRNAs (miRNAs), miR-1, miR-21, miR22, miR-27, miR-34, miR-127, miR-133, miR-143, miR-155, miR-199, miR-206, miR-208, miR-378, and miR-432 play important roles in pig skeletal muscle development. Further, the quality of meat also depends upon myofiber which is developed through the expression of different kinds of miRNAs at different stages. This review will focus on the mechanism of myogenesis, the role of miRNAs in myogenesis, and meat quality with a focus on the pig.