Change your habits
Tips for a more conscious consumption
Every time you shop, remember that your individual choices can have a positive influence on the global food production system. When it comes to meat, you can really leave your mark.
Consume less meat but of better quality. If you avoid meat from intensive farms and choose meat produced according to high welfare standards, you will already have done a lot. Increase your consumption of pulses and vegetables too. Substitute meat with tasty seasonal foods and you won’t miss it much.
Choose different species and breeds. Europeans consume mainly pig and poultry; the US chooses beef and the East poultry… If consumer demand concentrates on the same species, only intensive methods of production will do. Making varied choices helps take the pressure off certain types of animals.
Choose different cuts and learn to make less conventional purchases. The concentration of demand for the same cuts leads to high levels of food waste, and all this wasted meat means a staggering increase in the demand for new animals to be raised. Rediscover traditional recipes that bring out the best qualities of every cut!
Distrust significantly low prices, because they are often an indication of low-quality feed, exploitation, hidden costs that impact the environment or terrible work conditions in farms and industrial slaughterhouses.
Remember that local is better. When you buy meat, always check its origin and avoid imported products. Get to know your local area and find out which vegetables, fruits, animal breeds, breads, cured meats and traditional sweets are produced nearby.
Read labels carefully as they provide useful information on the type of meat. If you don’t have time to read, ask the butcher for information on the species of animal you are buying.
Put animal welfare first. To do this, look into cooperatives and groups of farms that follow strict diet and welfare guidelines for their animals. Each year the welfare of millions of animals raised for their meat, milk and eggs for human consumption is often seriously compromised.
Don’t fill up your fridge. When buying fresh meat, limit your purchase to what you will be consuming in the short term. In general, food waste has reached frightening proportions: one third of all food produced in the world is wasted.
Be curious. Ask your butcher for quality meat and encourage him to supply meat from high welfare farms. Allow yourself a trip to a farm, every now and then where possible. It will be useful to see how animals are raised, what they eat and at what age they are slaughtered.