Meat consumption in Germany has been declining for years, but the industry association is optimistic. A study shows how eating habits have changed.
For representatives of large slaughterhouse operators, the matter is clear: At the balance sheet of the Meat Industry Association (VDF) on Thursday, the lobbyists announced a turnaround and painted an optimistic picture. Sentences like “The Germans are eating meat again,” “The bottom has reached its bottom” and “The image of meat is recovering” were used. What’s it? Does meat really play a larger role in consumers’ diets again?
There is no lack of statistics and figures on the topic. Recently, meat has lost a lot of importance on plates. According to the Federal Statistical Office, meat production fell by a good eight percent in 2022 compared to the previous year, and by almost another six percent in the first half of 2023 alone.
According to the Federal Information Center for Agriculture (BLZ), Germans ate 52 kilograms of meat per capita in 2022 – less than ever since calculations began in 1989. According to the 2023 nutrition report from the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the proportion of people who eat meat every day is Eating meat and sausage has fallen from 25 to 20 percent this year.
Meat consumption: reduced and more conscious
The most current empirical study can be found in the sustainability study that the Rewe Group, the GfK Consumer Panel and the German Sustainability Prize Foundation recently published. Study author Robert Kecskes says: “Domestic meat consumption is declining in all households.”
Between 2018 and 2023, the proportion of households in which conscious attempts are made to reduce meat consumption rose from 37 percent to more than 47.5 percent. At the same time, however, the share of spending on meat, including fish, in everyday consumer goods has only fallen slightly in recent years (minus 3.9 percent since 2018); in some age groups it is almost stable. When it comes to Germans and their relationship to meat, market researcher Kecskes sees some anomalies.
Firstly: although an above-average number of the older generation want to reduce their meat consumption, spending on meat is still higher than among younger people. From Kecskes’ point of view, this is also due to the fact that older people are “meat-socialized” and are used to larger amounts of meat.
Second: The motivation to eat less meat varies greatly. Older people tend to justify this with health aspects, while younger people justify this with animal welfare and the climate.
Thirdly: According to the study, the amount of meat consumed is decreasing, especially among financially strong households and younger people, but not the proportion of expenditure – because people often switch to more expensive and higher quality meat. The so-called Generation Z – predominantly people born between the mid-1990s and 2010 – are increasingly avoiding meat.
Fourth: Kecskes sees a “cultural change” in meat. He expects the trend – more reduced and more conscious – to expand as soon as the financial situation improves. When it comes to consumption, an increasing demand for sustainable products can be observed in all age groups. The slowdown in 2022/2023 is due to economic circumstances.
The Schnitzel and “politically correct answers”
The meat industry is trying to see at least partial success from this. The negative trend of recent years – the decline in meat consumption and quantities purchased – has at least weakened considerably. Meat consumption in the private sector only fell by 0.7 percent in 2023 compared to the previous year; in 2022 it was still 8.1 percent. The figures also show that meat continues to play an important role in the lives of many people; for more than 60 percent it is even essential as food.
The industry says it is not impressed by the fact that more and more people want to turn away from meat. When asked about this, VDF board member Hubert Kelliger said: “Consumers have learned to give politically correct answers: ‘I eat less schnitzel and save the world’. This has nothing to do with purchasing behavior.” However, very few VDF representatives believe in a return to the old production quantities. A stabilization is expected, not a return to the slaughter figures of five years ago, it was said.
What certainly doesn’t dampen the mood in the meat industry is the view of the competition. After the meat substitute market has grown rapidly in recent years, development is now stagnating. The share of expenditure and the amounts per household are even declining slightly. Why? For Kecskes, the products “arrived in a niche at the end of a hype.”
Organic and animal husbandry levels made meat consumption interesting again for many “flexitarians” – this group largely abstains from meat and meat products, but not always. Meat alternatives would have to “give up their flair as a vegan substitute product”. If they didn’t convey a positive attitude to life, they would become boring for consumers.
Source: Stern
