The role of meat in strategies to achieve a sustainable diet lower in greenhouse gas emissions: A review

Hyland, John J.; Henchion, Maeve; McCarthy, Mary Beth; McCarthy, S.

doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2017.04.014

Cited by 73 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Other authors [ 74 ] emphasized the needs of strategies to achieve sustainable diets lower in greenhouse gas emissions: they include setting up a carbon tax or a carbon labelling, to reduce food loss and waste and/or to adopt new technologies at the farm-level. The major question underlying these strategies is how individual food choices will have the potential to influence healthiness of human diets and the environment.…”

Section: Evolution Of Consumer Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current situation and future prospects for beef production in Europe — A review

Hocquette

Ellies-Oury

Lherm

et al. 2018

Asian-Australas J Anim Sci

102

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The European Union (EU) is the world’s third largest producer of beef. This contributes to the economy, rural development, social life, culture and gastronomy of Europe. The diversity of breeds, animal types (cows, bulls, steers, heifers) and farming systems (intensive, extensive on permanent or temporary pastures, mixed, breeders, feeders, etc) is a strength, and a weakness as the industry is often fragmented and poorly connected. There are also societal concerns regarding animal welfare and environmental issues, despite some positive environmental impacts of farming systems. The EU is amongst the most efficient for beef production as demonstrated by a relative low production of greenhouse gases. Due to regional differences in terms of climate, pasture availability, livestock practices and farms characteristics, productivity and incomes of beef producers vary widely across regions, being among the lowest of the agricultural systems. The beef industry is facing unprecedented challenges related to animal welfare, environmental impact, origin, authenticity, nutritional benefits and eating quality of beef. These may affect the whole industry, especially its farmers. It is therefore essential to bring the beef industry together to spread best practice and better exploit research to maintain and develop an economically viable and sustainable beef industry. Meeting consumers’ expectations may be achieved by a better prediction of beef palatability using a modelling approach, such as in Australia. There is a need for accurate information and dissemination on the benefits and issues of beef for human health and for environmental impact. A better objective description of goods and services derived from livestock farming is also required. Putting into practice “agroecology” and organic farming principles are other potential avenues for the future. Different future scenarios can be written depending on the major driving forces, notably meat consumption, climate change, environmental policies and future organization of the supply chain.

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Section: Evolution Of Consumer Expectationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Current situation and future prospects for beef production in Europe — A review

Hocquette

Ellies-Oury

Lherm

et al. 2018

Asian-Australas J Anim Sci

102

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…As primary production is responsible for a large proportion of carbon footprints (16), and given the high diversity of the current farming systems, the model of food production (conventional or organic) seems an important factor to take into account, for the assessment and comparison of the environmental performances of various diets (17)(18)(19). Also, most existing studies considered a single environmental indicator (11) while the assessment of several environmental indicators can contribute to consolidate the validity of results for different environmental dimensions (11).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing nutritional, economic, and environmental performances of diets according to their levels of greenhouse gas emissions

et al. 2018

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“…Substantive additional topics, such as calculating the environmental impact of production and the unsettled arguments about the health risks of meat consumption, are not discussed here. These have been examined in detail elsewhere, including those investigating environmental impacts ( 28 – 31 ), reviews of colorectal cancer risk ( 32 – 36 ) and other types of cancer and negative health outcomes such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases ( 37 – 39 ). Meat consumption has accompanied human survival for centuries, but it can no longer be taken for granted in modern diets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Provisioning of Red Meat for Flexitarian Diets

2018

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Although not always labeled as such, flexitarianism is the default lifestyle for much of the world, whereby meals based on plant materials provide the bulk of people's calories. The rich nutrition of meat and animal products is often the lynchpin of these diets, even when only consumed occasionally. It provides forms and concentrations of essential proteins, lipids, and micronutrients that are otherwise scarce. However, the production of this meat is resource intensive. It requires large quantities of arable land and water, and typically has lower conversion efficiency of farm inputs to edible outputs compared with crops, poultry, aquaculture, dairy, and eggs. An additional complication is that the quantity of ancillary products produced during slaughterhouse operations is large and underutilized. Each year, approximately 190 million metric tons (MMT) of red meat, including pork, lamb, sheep, veal, beef, and goats are produced globally, half of which will be consumed by less than 25% of the population living in developed countries. With demand for meat expected to exceed 376 MMT by 2030, an increase in the adoption of plant-based diets presents an opportunity for the world to re-evaluate how meat can be sustainably produced, with greater emphasis on animal welfare, nutritional value, product safety, better utilization, and distribution channels. In this article we consider the role meat plays in the modern diet, its production and consumption, opportunities to improve utilization of the animal, the benefits of incorporating a diverse range of red meat into diets, and the strategies that the meat industry should consider in response to flexitarianism.

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The role of meat in strategies to achieve a sustainable diet lower in greenhouse gas emissions: A review

Cited by 73 publications

References 67 publications

Current situation and future prospects for beef production in Europe — A review

Current situation and future prospects for beef production in Europe — A review

Comparing nutritional, economic, and environmental performances of diets according to their levels of greenhouse gas emissions

Global Provisioning of Red Meat for Flexitarian Diets

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