Is it true? Is this the end of meat? Have meat shortages and fear of coronavirus infection driven the masses to abandon meat? Well, surprisingly this isn’t too far fetched.
With meat processing plants all across the U.S. closing due to COVID-19 outbreaks consumers are facing rising prices and meat shortages worse than ever.
However, despite this impending meat crisis there are other alternatives. According to Lilian Cheung of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Heath, if people opt to eat less red meat as a result, it could be good for their health. Cheung states, “With Covid-19, the underlying conditions of heart disease and diabetes increase the risk. You become much more vulnerable and increase the risk of dying and complications.”
Meanwhile, according to Forbes the conditions in wet markets and some large-scale farms increase the chances of a pandemic. Hence some propose that an extreme measure we could take to mitigate the conditions that lead to zoonotic pathogens would be to ban meat consumption. Others propose that rather than getting rid of meat, it is time to produce it cheaper, environmentally safer, and pandemic-free.
On the other hand, Euro News reported that plant-based diets could prevent another pandemic. Specifically, Dr Gemma Newman from the non-profit Plant-Based Health Professionals is encouraging the public to take part in the ’No Meat May’ campaign. So far there have been 33,000 sign-ups compared to 10,000 in 2019. Of those who have signed up this year, surveys showed that 38 per cent did so out of concerns surrounding the meat industry and diseases like Covid-19.
Though it’s hard to say for sure whether the pandemic will directly impact individual decisions to give up meat. Nonetheless, there seems to be a clear connection between intensive factory farming and public health concerns.
What do you think? Is this the end of meat? Why or why not?
