According to a new survey on Canada’s “protein wars,” 6.4 million Canadians have already restricted or eliminated meat from their diets, while a third of the population intends to do so in the next six months.
“It appears that Canadians are still somewhat attached to meat consumption, generally speaking,” said principal investigator Sylvain Charlebois, Professor of Food Distribution and Policy at Dalhousie University, Canada. “But more and more Canadians are reconsidering their relationship with animal-based protein,” he said.The findings come as Health Canada prepares to debut the latest iteration of its food guide in November, one that had been expected to lean more vegan than omnivore. In its “guiding principles” for the food-rules rewrite released earlier this year, Health Canada urged a shift to a “high proportion” of plant-based foods.
Charlebois conducted the study along with Simon Somogyi, of the University of Guelph and Janet Music of Dalhousie’s Faculty of Management. The researchers surveyed 1,027 adults and found that nearly half (49 per cent) said they consume meat or meat-containing products daily and 40 per cent said they eat meat once or twice a week. Two per cent considered themselves vegetarians, one percent vegans and one per cent lacto-ovo vegetarian (no animal flesh, but eggs and milk products permitted).Fifty-one per cent said they would be willing to consider reducing meat some time in the future.
Both men and women identified health benefits as reasons for reducing meat intake, though women and younger people were more concerned about animal welfare. Women were also more likely to agree meat is replaceable by other sources of protein.
Overall, the survey found that, “If you earn more, if you are a woman, if you are more educated, you are less likely to be attached to meat,” said Charlebois, who believes we’re experiencing what he calls “the womanisation of protein consumption.”
For more information about the study see here [accessed 30/10/2018]
The views expressed by our Research News contributors are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.
The views expressed by our Research News contributors are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.
