Summary
UK consumers are eating less meat than at any point since records began 50 years ago, according to the latest government figures, so how are farmers, processors and retailers responding?
The cost of living crisis is part of the reason for a recent drop-off in demand, but warnings about meat's impact on the planet and our health might also play a role, and plant-based alternatives have been eating into meat’s market share in recent years.
So does the industry feel under attack, or are they adapting their businesses and their products to meet these challenges? And what does it take to get an animal from a field to our plate anyway?
Evan Davis is joined by:
Anna Longthorp, of Anna’s Happy Trotters; Phil Hambling, head of CSR at ABP Food Group; Charlotte Mitchell, owner of Charlotte’s Butchery.
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Producer: Simon Tulett Researcher: Paige Neal-Holder Editor: Matt Willis Sound: Rod Farquhar and Neil Churchill Production co-ordinator: Rosie Strawbridge
The Bottom Line is produced in partnership with The Open University.
(Picture: A butcher arranging meat at store window in Leeds. Credit: Reza Estakhrian/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:05.2 | This is the podcast version of the programme. |
| 0:07.3 | It has some extra goodies in it that we didn't have room for in the radio broadcast. |
| 0:11.4 | Hope you enjoy it. |
| 0:12.9 | Hello, welcome to the programme. |
| 0:14.4 | Now, in the latest figures, which admittedly only go up to April 2020, in the UK, we eat an average of 854 grams of meat each week at home, |
| 0:27.8 | and then plus another 50 or so grams away from home. Now, that is equivalent to about |
| 0:33.1 | seven or eight quarter-pounder hamburger patties, if you find that an easier unit of measure. |
| 0:38.5 | Now, the challenges of the pandemic might have been playing a part in those meat figures, |
| 0:44.0 | but that was the lowest meat consumption for any year going back to 1974. |
| 0:49.6 | Of course, in much of the rest of the world, meat consumption is rising. |
| 0:52.7 | People tend to eat more as they get |
| 0:54.5 | richer, but here we seem to have passed peak meat, which incidentally matches the advice from |
| 1:01.7 | climate change and health experts that we should eat less, especially red meat. So we thought we |
| 1:07.6 | might look at the state of the meat industry today, the consumer trends that are going on and the market response, from farm to retailer. |
| 1:15.7 | Is this a state of managed decline or one of opportunity? |
| 1:20.2 | I'm going to hope we don't butcher this very broad topic in the time available. |
| 1:25.0 | But with my three guests, the first thing to work out is how the industry |
| 1:28.3 | works. So let's talk to them one by one. And first up is Anna Longthorpe, who is a pig farmer |
| 1:34.3 | from East Yorkshire, owner of Anna's Happy Trotters and joining us down the line from our Hull studio. |
| 1:41.1 | So Anna, tell us a little about your pig farm. Okay, so we're free-range pig farmers from |
| 1:47.3 | Yorkshire. Historically, we used to supply into supermarkets, but then 15 years ago, having seen |
... |
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