THERE is no global tidal wave of people turning their backs on beef but for the portion of people who are actively looking to reduce their intake, there are common reasons across many of the big meat-consuming countries.
Cost and health are driving reduction, while animal welfare concerns are the big driver of those completely rejecting meat.
Worry about the environment is prevalent as the second or third driver of both reduction and rejection.
These were the key findings from work conducted by Australian research consultancy Pollinate this year, which reviewed data from around the world with three main lines of inquiry - meat consumption trends, drivers of meat reduction and drivers of rejection.
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Pollinate was able to put together 'score cards' across 11 of the world's strongest beef-consuming nations, minus China, as a result of the work.
It showed Australia has the most meat eaters in terms of percentage of population, at 94 per cent.
It also showed typically more than 30pc - in some countries as many as 50pc - of people were reducing their consumption of meat. This is a diet choice known as flexitarianism.
Conversely, there was a percentage, albeit much smaller, who were actively looking to increase their meat consumption.
Vegetarians and vegans - who reject meat altogether - remain only a very small percentage of the population in all countries.
The findings were similar to that of similar work conducted in 2019, but there were some nuanced shifts when it came to the drivers of vegetarianism, Pollinate's Howard Parry-Husbands said.
"Since 2019, global consumers have been impacted by a series of significant world events and have changed their behavior and priorities accordingly," he said.
"In the context of beef, consumers have increasingly prioritised 'me' over 'we' concerns."
While flexitarianism remains driven by pragmatism - the expense of beef and health considerations - when it comes to rejecting meat entirely, people are more driven by emotion now than they were.
"That is, the idea of 'saving myself and saving animals' rather than morality," Mr Parry-Husbands said.
Only the Germans stated environmental issues as their key issue driving rejection, and even then animal welfare was very high.
Given heightened concerns around cost and health in 2022, global consumers were now even more motivated to reduce their beef consumption, he said.
That likely explains the net decrease in meat consumption across the board.
In Australia, people are overwhelmingly still eating beef but just less of it and the single biggest reason given was it was too expensive in 2022.
Environmental concerns was the second biggest reason for decreasing meat consumption, but that only accounted for 15pc of people. Health concerns was driving the decisions of 14pc of meat reducers.
Mr Parry-Husbands acknowledged the lack of data out of China, the world's largest importer of meat, was a gap.
He said for many other countries there was data covering the proportion of meat eaters versus vegans but a lack of research on the 'why'.
However, there were some indicative results showing rejection within Asia was driven by health or animal welfare concerns, he said.
Shan Goodwin
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Shan Goodwin steers ACM’s national coverage of the beef industry. Shan has worked as a journalist for 30 years, the majority of that with agricultural publications. She spent many years as The Land’s North Coast reporter and has visited beef properties and stations throughout the country and overseas. She treats all breeds equally. Contact 0427686187. E: s.goodwin@austcommunitymedia.com.au
