Recently, the millenials have become a lot of trouble for representatives of the meat industry - they are rapidly losing interest in meat and switching to its vegetable counterparts.
According to the research company GlobalData, about 70% of the world's population in recent years, or began to eat less meat, or completely abandoned it, says Forbes. The main driving force of the new trend has become the ubiquitous millennials, concerned with the protection of the environment and animal rights. Instead of meat, they are increasingly buying products of plant origin, and this is supported by many famous actors, musicians and athletes.
Over the past three years, the number of vegetarians in the US has grown by 600%. Now even Walmart, the largest American trading network, has begun to contact its suppliers with a request to increase the range of vegetarian products.
Of course, such changes in consumer behavior can not but please producers of plant products. So, sales of the British company Quorn Foods, producing burgers and sausages from mushrooms, in the first half of 2017 increased by 19%. In addition, a lot of start-ups like Memphis Meats and Mosa Meat have appeared on the market, offering artificial (grown in the laboratory from stem cells) meat. However, for such meat to appear on the shelves of shops, manufacturers have to work hard to reduce its cost.
Caring for nature is not the only reason that the millenials started eating less meat. An important role is played by anxiety about one's own health. According to the World Health Organization, the use of processed meat (such as ham or bacon) increases the risk of cancer. And the largest in the US non-profit medical organization Kaiser Permanente and the American Institute for Cancer Research recommend a vegetable diet as a way of preventing cardiovascular and other diseases.
According to the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, reducing meat consumption globally by 2050 can save up to 8 million lives, and save the world economy $ 31 trillion - mainly due to lower health care costs and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
But this does not mean that producers of meat products should prepare for bankruptcy. All they need is to diversify the range of their products, offering consumers more alternative protein products.