Dec 22, 2023 08:39 PM
(This post was last modified: Dec 22, 2023 08:41 PM by C C.)
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/beef-con...on-boomers
EXCERPTS: . . . Earlier this year a study from Tulane University in New Orleans found that a relatively small number of Americans are responsible for the lion’s share of beef consumption—and those eaters tend to skew older and male. But the beef industry isn’t content with the narrowing demographics of its customers—it has its eyes on creating a whole new generation of beef-eating stalwarts.
Diego Rose is the director of Tulane University’s nutrition program and one of the authors of the paper examining beef habits in the US. The research took data from a nationwide study conducted from 2015 through 2018 [...] According to his data, just 12 percent of people surveyed accounted for half of the total beef consumed. People who ate a lot of beef were more likely to be male and aged 50 to 65—roughly correlating with the baby boomer generation.
Today’s high consumers of beef likely grew up in the golden era of beef in the US, before rising prices and health fears associated with red meat made beef a less central part of the diet [...] The Tulane study is only a snapshot of US diets, but it suggests that beef consumption divides along generational lines...
[...] Declining beef availability can be explained by a number of factors, Makens says. “The biggest is that we have seen a shrinking of the herd as farmers and ranchers have battled drought and other weather conditions, and older generations have had to sell their land,” she says, also pointing out that according to industry data, beef demand has risen over the past 25 years.
[...] Although the exact numbers may be disputed, it is clear that the beef industry is paying closer attention to younger Americans. The meat marketing agency Midan Marketing has published blog posts calling Gen Z “tomorrow’s meat industry” and urging beef marketers to tout their meat’s high protein content in order to appeal to younger consumers. The rise of marketing beef as “low carbon” might also be a way for the industry to appeal to younger generations who tend to be more engaged than older consumers with climate change.
[...] Meat consumption in particular is becoming highly politicized...
[...] If beef consumption is concentrated among a relatively small group of people, that could be a useful way to focus campaigns to get people to reduce their meat intake. Some of those people are probably open to arguments about beef’s health and environmental impacts, Rose says, although the highest consumers of beef might also be those people who are most resistant to change, which could require a more delicate approach. “Nobody said anything about taking away your beef—we just said about maybe eating a little less of it,” Rose says... (MORE - missing details)
RELATED (scivillage): Big Meat just can’t quit antibiotics
EXCERPTS: . . . Earlier this year a study from Tulane University in New Orleans found that a relatively small number of Americans are responsible for the lion’s share of beef consumption—and those eaters tend to skew older and male. But the beef industry isn’t content with the narrowing demographics of its customers—it has its eyes on creating a whole new generation of beef-eating stalwarts.
Diego Rose is the director of Tulane University’s nutrition program and one of the authors of the paper examining beef habits in the US. The research took data from a nationwide study conducted from 2015 through 2018 [...] According to his data, just 12 percent of people surveyed accounted for half of the total beef consumed. People who ate a lot of beef were more likely to be male and aged 50 to 65—roughly correlating with the baby boomer generation.
Today’s high consumers of beef likely grew up in the golden era of beef in the US, before rising prices and health fears associated with red meat made beef a less central part of the diet [...] The Tulane study is only a snapshot of US diets, but it suggests that beef consumption divides along generational lines...
[...] Declining beef availability can be explained by a number of factors, Makens says. “The biggest is that we have seen a shrinking of the herd as farmers and ranchers have battled drought and other weather conditions, and older generations have had to sell their land,” she says, also pointing out that according to industry data, beef demand has risen over the past 25 years.
[...] Although the exact numbers may be disputed, it is clear that the beef industry is paying closer attention to younger Americans. The meat marketing agency Midan Marketing has published blog posts calling Gen Z “tomorrow’s meat industry” and urging beef marketers to tout their meat’s high protein content in order to appeal to younger consumers. The rise of marketing beef as “low carbon” might also be a way for the industry to appeal to younger generations who tend to be more engaged than older consumers with climate change.
[...] Meat consumption in particular is becoming highly politicized...
[...] If beef consumption is concentrated among a relatively small group of people, that could be a useful way to focus campaigns to get people to reduce their meat intake. Some of those people are probably open to arguments about beef’s health and environmental impacts, Rose says, although the highest consumers of beef might also be those people who are most resistant to change, which could require a more delicate approach. “Nobody said anything about taking away your beef—we just said about maybe eating a little less of it,” Rose says... (MORE - missing details)
RELATED (scivillage): Big Meat just can’t quit antibiotics