WORLD'S MEAT EATING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 62, 6 December 1937, Page 3

WORLD'S MEAT EATING

Our Own Correspondent.)

New Zealanders are the Biggest Consumers INTERNATIONAL SURVEY

(Prom

LONDON, Nov. 10. The latest meat report of the Imperial Economic Committee indicates that New Zealanders still eat more meat per head than any other people in the world. Full figures for 1936 are unforfcunately not yet available, but those that have been obtained indicate that with an average consumption of 2801b. of meat last year, New Zealanders retained their lead on the inhabitants of Australia and Argentina, their nearest rivals. Becf consumption is greator in Ar-gc-utina^ and probab'ly in Uruguay, than iti New Zealand, where last year's per capita^ demand was 1501b., but the Dominiou requires far more mutton and lamb per head than any other country m the wolld. Last year'a figure, 1021b. per head, is more than three times as great as that for Great Britain, eight times as great as for Argentina, and 17 times as great as for Canada and the United States. Australians are the closest rivals in this directioto, but although last year's returns are not available from the Commonwealth, the figure is thought to be considerably lower than the New Zealand total. With an average of 761b. per head, Germany leads the countries for which last year's consumption of pig meat is available. New Zealand, with an average of only 281b. per head, is well down Ihe list. The totals &how that twice as much meat was eaten per head in New Zealand last year as in Great Britain, more than twice as much as in Canada and Germany, and over tbree times as much as iu France. Totals ,for the United Btatea awa not available, but .they

usually resemble those for Canada iairly closely. I The figures show wide variations in the popularity of differeut ki.nds of meat. In Argentina beef is by far the most important. In Australia and New Zealand beef and mutton predominate. In the United States and Canada, pork, bacott, and ham account for about half the total. while in Great' Britain twice as much beef is eateh as mutton, with pig meats in between the two. Germans, on the other hand, eat more than twice as much pork, bacon, and ham as all other kinds of meat, and hardly any mutton is eaten at all. New Zealand 's per' capita meat consumption has increased every year since 1933, when it was 2201b. per head. The following year it was 2491b., and in 1935 2701b.