Red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability
Objective: Higher intakes of red and processed meat are associated with poorer health outcomes and negative environmental impacts. Drawing upon a population survey the present paper investigates meat consumption behaviours, exploring perceived impacts for human health, animal welfare and the environ...
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| Format: | Article |
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Cambridge University Press
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37466/ |
| _version_ | 1848795464822947840 |
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| author | Clonan, Angie Wilson, Paul Swift, Judy A. Leibovici, Didier Holdsworth, Michelle |
| author_facet | Clonan, Angie Wilson, Paul Swift, Judy A. Leibovici, Didier Holdsworth, Michelle |
| author_sort | Clonan, Angie |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Objective: Higher intakes of red and processed meat are associated with poorer health outcomes and negative environmental impacts. Drawing upon a population survey the present paper investigates meat consumption behaviours, exploring perceived impacts for human health, animal welfare and the environment.
Design: Structured self-completion postal survey relating to red and processed meat, capturing data on attitudes, sustainable meat purchasing behaviour, red and processed meat intake, plus sociodemographic characteristics of respondents.
Setting: Urban and rural districts of Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, UK, drawn from the electoral register.
Subjects: UK adults (n 842) aged 18–91 years, 497 females and 345 males, representing a 35·6 % response rate from 2500 randomly selected residents.
Results: Women were significantly more likely (P <0·01) to consume≤1 portion of meat/d compared with men. Females and older respondents (>60 years) were more likely to hold positive attitudes towards animal welfare (P<0·01). Less than a fifth (18·4 %) of the sample agreed that the impact of climate change could be reduced by consuming less meat, dairy products and eggs. Positive attitudes towards animal welfare were associated with consuming less meat and a greater frequency of ‘higher welfare’ meat purchases.
Conclusions: Human health and animal welfare are more common motivations to avoid red and processed meat than environmental sustainability. Policy makers, nutritionists and health professionals need to increase the public’s awareness of the environmental impact of eating red and processed meat. A first step could be to ensure that dietary guidelines integrate the nutritional, animal welfare and environmental components of sustainable diets. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:32:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-37466 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:32:31Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-374662024-08-15T15:16:41Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37466/ Red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability Clonan, Angie Wilson, Paul Swift, Judy A. Leibovici, Didier Holdsworth, Michelle Objective: Higher intakes of red and processed meat are associated with poorer health outcomes and negative environmental impacts. Drawing upon a population survey the present paper investigates meat consumption behaviours, exploring perceived impacts for human health, animal welfare and the environment. Design: Structured self-completion postal survey relating to red and processed meat, capturing data on attitudes, sustainable meat purchasing behaviour, red and processed meat intake, plus sociodemographic characteristics of respondents. Setting: Urban and rural districts of Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, UK, drawn from the electoral register. Subjects: UK adults (n 842) aged 18–91 years, 497 females and 345 males, representing a 35·6 % response rate from 2500 randomly selected residents. Results: Women were significantly more likely (P <0·01) to consume≤1 portion of meat/d compared with men. Females and older respondents (>60 years) were more likely to hold positive attitudes towards animal welfare (P<0·01). Less than a fifth (18·4 %) of the sample agreed that the impact of climate change could be reduced by consuming less meat, dairy products and eggs. Positive attitudes towards animal welfare were associated with consuming less meat and a greater frequency of ‘higher welfare’ meat purchases. Conclusions: Human health and animal welfare are more common motivations to avoid red and processed meat than environmental sustainability. Policy makers, nutritionists and health professionals need to increase the public’s awareness of the environmental impact of eating red and processed meat. A first step could be to ensure that dietary guidelines integrate the nutritional, animal welfare and environmental components of sustainable diets. Cambridge University Press 2015-03-13 Article PeerReviewed Clonan, Angie, Wilson, Paul, Swift, Judy A., Leibovici, Didier and Holdsworth, Michelle (2015) Red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability. Public Health Nutrition, 19 (13). pp. 2446-2456. ISSN 1475-2727 meat health animal welfare environment https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/public-health-nutrition/article/red-and-processed-meat-consumption-and-purchasing-behaviours-and-attitudes-impacts-for-human-health-animal-welfare-and-environmental-sustainability/E8632CE4789A6D2903B7E445E63BC76F doi:10.1017/S1368980015000567 doi:10.1017/S1368980015000567 |
| spellingShingle | meat health animal welfare environment Clonan, Angie Wilson, Paul Swift, Judy A. Leibovici, Didier Holdsworth, Michelle Red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability |
| title | Red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability |
| title_full | Red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability |
| title_fullStr | Red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability |
| title_full_unstemmed | Red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability |
| title_short | Red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability |
| title_sort | red and processed meat consumption and purchasing behaviours and attitudes: impacts for human health, animal welfare and environmental sustainability |
| topic | meat health animal welfare environment |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37466/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37466/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37466/ |