Each year the trend continues, the amount of meat Germans consumed in 2022 dropped drastically compared to the previous year. With many supermarket chains expanding animal-free ranges, more and more people are reaching for vegetarian and vegetarian options.

Germans are eating less meat each year

In 2022, people in Germany ate an average of 52 kilograms of meat over the course of the year, 4,2 kilograms less than in the previous year, according to the Federal Information Centre for Agriculture (BZL). 

This is the lowest amount of annual meat consumption per person since records began in 1989. In a breakdown, the BZL revealed how much people in Germany were cutting down on meat of specific animals, with people eating 2,8 kilograms less of pork, 900 grams less of beef and 400 grams less of poultry.

With vegetarianism becoming increasingly cemented on the menu of traditional German food and everyday diet, the meat industry, long propped up by sizeable EU and German government subsidies, is in a sticky situation with an uncertain financial future. But the head of the German Meat Industry Association, Heike Harstick, claims that inflation plays a large part in the Germans’ new tendency to spurn to sausage.

“Inflation is leading to buying restraint and reduced consumption,” Harstick told ntv. According to the broadcaster, beef, veal and pork were 20 percent more expensive in December 2022 compared to the same period the previous year. “The fact that such inflation affects purchasing behaviour is quite clear”.

Germany produced less meat in 2022

The coronavirus pandemic becoming less of a risk meant more people in Germany returning to restaurants and canteens for their daily meals. According to market research company GfK these shifts saw a decrease in meat purchasing volumes, which fell by 8,4 percent in 2022. 

People buying less meat and turning to vegan or vegetarian alternatives means that meat production in Germany is also down. In 2022, Germany farmed 9,8 percent less pork, 8,2 percent less beef and veal, and 2,9 percent less poultry than in the previous year.

Thumb image credit: U. Eisenlohr / Shutterstock.com