There has been a large media focus alongside a high-profile advertising campaign recently promoting the merits of a vegan diet, or perhaps more precisely an anti-meat and animal products campaign.

If we were to judge it on the basis of profile it would be easy to conclude that exclusion of meat and animal products from the human diet is widespread, but is it?

Research

Bord Bia presented the findings of research they undertook late last year along with partner organisations One Core and Mercator. The research was based on interviews with 9,000 consumers in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Sweden and the USA, the purpose of which was to establish the number of people that followed exclusively plant-based diets and their reasons for doing so.

The study identified vegans, vegetarians and rebalances, a group that consciously consumes limited amounts of meat and dairy products.

In simple numerical terms, the study found that 4.3% of people in Ireland follow a vegetarian diet and 4.1% follow a vegan diet, with 8.2% classified in the rebalancer category. Interestingly, half of the vegans identified in the study had adopted the diet within the past 12 months, and 37% of those surveyed said they are committed to the diet forever.

On vegetarianism, 32% have adopted the diet within the past 12 months, with 40% saying that they are committed forever.

Outside Ireland

On a global basis, it is estimated that 3.5% of the world’s population follows a vegan diet, which is 725m people, with 360m of these living in India where beef isn’t part of the diet for religious grounds though they do eat sheep meat and poultry.

In the UK, it is estimated that 1.85m people are vegans, which is 5.7% of the UK population and the second-highest of the countries that were involved in this survey, with Germany being the highest at 6.1% of the population.

In Ireland, the research found that the trend was particularly prevalent in the younger population, with 54% of vegans, 48% of vegetarians and 31% of rebalancers in the 18-34 age category.

Reasons

The main reasons vegans and vegetarians offered in the study for their choice of diet was concern for the environment and animal welfare, but health and wellness were also key factors in the choice. Social media and peer group behaviour were also offered as reasons for these dietary choices.

Comment

Consumers are perfectly entitled to choose whatever diet they prefer and it is clear that a small percentage of the population choose to avoid meat consumption and another small group excludes meat and dairy. It is also perfectly reasonable to promote these diets as a choice to other consumers.

However, a line is crossed in the promotion and advocacy methods used. Rather than positively campaigning for their beliefs, it is common that campaigns are based on an anti-meat and and dairy agenda, often with inaccurate and misleading information used. Farmers, through quality assurance schemes which reinforce already strict welfare legislation, are the greatest advocates for caring for animals.