Meat consumption in the US and Europe will reach its peak by 2025 before it will start to fall.
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It’s official, the end of animal-based meat is on the horizon.
A new report from the BCG indicates that Europe and the US will reach ‘peak meat’ by 2025, after which point meat consumption will fall.
This is largely due to the exponential rise of vegan meat alternatives which will see alternative proteins reach price parity with meat by 2023.
Cost is a big factor in the accessibility of vegan meat alternatives, and many people simply cannot afford to switch to more environmentally friendly and ethical protein sources. Therefore, price parity would likely contribute to a reduction in meat sales.
The report also added that if meat alternatives sales grow to 11% of sales over the next 15 years, a whopping 1 billion tonnes of carbon emissions will have been avoided. This is the equivalent to 50 billion fewer chickens being raised and land the size of the entire UK being saved from livestock farming.
At present, the annual market for vegan meat, dairy and seafood is on course to reach £210 billion by 2035.
‘The first time in history’
Speaking to the Guardian, Decker Walker, the head of agribusiness at BCG explained:
“The most striking thing is that in developed economies, we’re going to be at peak meat in 2025 in some scenarios.
“There’s all this talk that alternative proteins are futuristic, and that many people don’t resonate with the concept of artificial meat.
“But what most people don’t realise is that we’re actually already at a point where [conventional] meat consumption is going to be declining for the first time in history. The global consequences of the shift to alternative proteins are significant.”
We can’t wait for the plant-based meat revolution and animal meat consumption to finally decline.
One of the most popular vegan meat alternatives is seitan.
Here are 20 of the best vegan seitan recipes even meat-eaters will love.
