Is it possible to reduce meat consumption in our culture?

´At ease with the Earth’ analyzes the consumption of meat in society, as well as the possibility of alternatives to reduce its sustainable impact and improve health

Two women buy meat in a market in Madrid. EFE / Victor Casado

Meat enters the space to talk about the food of the future and the challenges it poses for the coming years in terms of its consumption.

Henar Fernandez, driver of the podcastand Noelia Lopeza Nestlé nutritionist, bring us the recommendations to achieve a healthy and sustainable diet beyond this food.

In the new program meat is the protagonist. Why do we like meat so much? Why do we consume it more than necessary?

Meat is one of the most consumed foods in our society. Evolutionarily, the human being comes from a food system based on gathering and hunting.

“There are cultures and religions that precisely follow vegetarian patterns, but the Western world has a strong link with meat and with recipes rich in foods of animal origin and derived products such as sausages”

explains the nutritionist.

In addition, the mistaken thought that the proteins that meat and its derivatives provide us with are of higher quality than vegetables is also very common.

It is thought that if we do not consume it with a certain frequency, or even in a certain quantity, we will not cover the protein needs required to maintain our health.

Environmental impact of meat

There are differences in the type of animal, veal, chicken or rabbit, as well as the origin of this meat. It also takes into account how it has been fed or how it has been raised.

“Ruminants, red meat such as cows, emit more greenhouse gases than white meat. Therefore, to avoid the growth of emissions, as well as for health reasons, it is preferable to prioritize white meat such as chicken”

recommends Noelia López.

In the event that this change costs us, we have vegetable alternatives similar in taste and texture to replace meat consumption.

Cows, red meat. EFE/Javier Onion

Apart of this it is important “to adjust the consumption of the portions that we take to the recommendations”.

“In this way we will be much more respectful and responsible with the problem of food waste, which is part of food sustainability.”

says the specialist.

Paying attention to these items, frequency of consumption and waste, we would already be much more sustainable.

Is it advisable to stop eating red meat?

Demonizing food is not a good initiative, says the nutritionist.

“The preferable thing is to reduce meat intake and try to introduce more vegetables in our diet such as legumes and cereals”

defends the nutritionist.

It is not about eliminating the intake, he proposes, but about “making a more responsible consumption, reducing the portions and the frequency of consumption”.

The role of the fish

If we opt for local and seasonal fish, its consumption will be more sustainable.

Another way to bet on sustainability in terms of fishing is the worldwide maintenance of the natural network, the consumption of aquaculture and vegetable or shellfish alternatives.

aquaculture

It’s about the production of fish and shellfish in a controlled manner. “This practice is not very well known but little by little it is growing. It is more efficient in terms of sustainability and it is making a niche for itself in the market.”

“Today it is FAO’s strongest commitment to ensure that the consumption of these foods is sustainable. In addition, it has a positive impact on food safety and the consequent commitment to fresh local products”

Aquaculture. EFE/EPA/CAROLINE BLUMBERG

sustainable market

Legumes, cereals, nuts and seeds are plant foods that can cover protein needs.

“Tempeh and tofu, made with soy and wheat, are good substitutes for meat. These alternatives are related to veggie patterns, but you don’t have to follow this diet to include them in our diet”

advises Noelia López.

Other vegetarian or vegan alternatives provide a lot of variety in our menus, but they do not pretend to imitate meat.

But we also found a group of 100% vegan alternatives that if they get the consumer to enjoy eating a hamburger or sausages with a cooking and texture similar to meat.

Something similar happens with “the tuna, la Vuna, which already has vegetable alternatives and which allows us to enjoy the taste, even the smell, of tunabut with a totally vegetable product made from peas”.

Nowadays it is easy to find this type of products in the market. Its expansion makes it possible to help sustainability, since more and more sustainable products are available to everyone.

Low consumption of illegal cigarettes, but losses increase - Medellín - Colombia

Last year, the 32 departments of the country and the Capital District stopped receiving more than 750,000 million pesos for cigarette tax, destined for health, recreation and sports.

That’s what the study says Incidence of illegal cigarette consumption in Colombia 2021carried out by the firm Invamer for the National Federation of Departments (FND) and whose results have just been presented.

According to that study, in the last four years Colombia stopped collecting 2.4 billion pesos for the same reason, which represented a huge gap in departmental finances.

In the last four years, Colombia stopped collecting 2.4 billion pesos for this same concept.

The report indicates that despite the fact that the illegal consumption of cigarettes in Colombia fell by one percentage point, going from 34%, in 2020, to 33%, in 2021, the losses were greater. While in 2020 the regions stopped receiving 692,000 million pesos from cigarette tax, last year that figure increased to 750,000 million pesos.

“The number that was not received increased, although illegal consumption decreased, because the market grew,” says the Executive Director of the FND, Didier Tavera Amado. However, according to Tavera, due to the percentage point that consumption in the country decreased, “territorial entities have more than 59,000 million saved, which is equivalent to investing in the admission to school of 55,000 minors on average.”
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According to the report, which was conducted among people aged 18 to 64 from all socioeconomic strata, on average, each smoker consumes 7 illegal cigarettes a day in urban areas; in rural areas this consumption rises to 8 illegal cigarettes per day.

For this reason, according to the study, in the countryside the consumption of illegal cigarettes reaches 52% while in urban areas it is 27%.

On average, each smoker consumes 7 illegal cigarettes per day in urban areas; in rural areas this consumption rises to 8 illegal cigarettes per day.

In terms of stratum and age range, the main consumer of illegal cigarettes is between 55 and 64 years old, and belongs mostly to strata 1 and 2. In these strata, the per capita consumption of illegal cigarettes per week is 53 cigarettes, while strata 4, 5 and 6 reach 48 cigarettes.

The people who consume the most are those over 55 years of age, 60 cigarettes a week; while those between 18 and 24 consume almost 40 per week.

For Tavera, the good news that the study reveals is that the upward trend that had been marking the illegal market has been stopped: “Since 2016, the percentage of illegal cigarettes has been rising consistently: it went from 13 percent, in 2016, to 34 percent in 2020, and for 2021 that rise is stopped and it is possible to reduce even one point: 33 percent”.
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“The results of the study are encouraging, since they demonstrate the effectiveness of the strategies implemented at the national level, which have been segmented to meet the needs and characteristics of each of the regions,” he adds.

The Tax and Customs Police, Medellín Division, in coordination with the DIAN) and Revenues of Antioquia have carried out several anti-smuggling operations in the Aburrá Valley metropolitan area.

The results of the study show that among the departments in which the consumption of illegal cigarettes was reduced is Antioquia, which in 2020 was at the top.

The results of the study show that among the departments in which the consumption of illegal cigarettes was reduced is Antioquia, which in 2020 was at the top.

Antioquia went from 47 percent in consumption to 34 percent, a considerable decrease of 13 percent, which the FND and the Dian attribute to the so-called Antioquia Plan, which began in the middle of last year to combat the sale and consumption of cigarettes. smuggled.

Martín Orozco, general director of Invamer, assures that when the national 33 percent is disaggregated among the departments, the case of Antioquia stands out because it weighs a lot within the industry: it represents 5.4 percent. “It is a department where many cigarettes are consumed and therefore the improvements achieved there are reflected in the national figure,” he maintains.

The study showed that the departments with the highest rate of illegal cigarette consumption are La Guajira (94%), Cesar (85%), Magdalena (84%), Sucre (70%), Norte de Santander (68%), Bolívar ( 62%), Córdoba (58%), Atlántico (47%), Santander (35%), Tolima (35%), Chocó (34%), Guaviare (34%) and Antioquia (34%).

For their part, the regions that increased the most in the consumption of illegal cigarettes compared to 2020 were Bolívar (15%), Cesar (11%), Chocó (10%) and Risaralda (10%).
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The study also found that the illegal cigarette market tends to use more informal and high-traffic channels, such as neighborhood stores. In Colombia there are about 600,000 neighborhood stores.

According to the Invamer study, 82 percent of people who consume contraband cigarettes say they buy them in stores.

More than 6 million packs were seized in 2021

According to the DIAN, the main illegal cigarette brands available in Colombia are Rumba, from Uruguay; Carnival, from South Korea; Ultima, from India, and Marshal and Marble, from China.
In 2021, according to that entity, more than 6 million cigarette packs, 112 thousand bottles of liquor (750ml), and 709 thousand beers (350ml) were seized. This merchandise is commercially valued at more than 24 billion pesos. In 2022, more than 16,900 million pesos will be invested in the fight against smuggling.

Increased consumption of high protection masks in the sixth wave

High protection masks (FFP2 and FFP3) as well as paracetamol have increased their sales in pharmacies during the sixth wave of covid, according to a report from the Cofares Trends Observatory

A woman walks in front of a graffiti in Barcelona protected by a mask due to the coronavirus epidemic. EFE/Enric Fontcuberta

Continuous adaptation. These are the two words with which the Cofares report summarizes the two years of the pandemic, a period in which health products to protect against the virus have been changing depending on the successive Covid waves and health recommendations.

Thus, during the months between November 2021 and January 2022 (until the 19th), there has been a notable increase in the demand for high protection masks, and an increase in the demand for paracetamol in Spanish pharmacies, coinciding with the sixth wave of covid.

Specifically, according to data from Cofares, the leading cooperative in pharmaceutical distribution in Spain, the demand for masks FFP2 and FFP3 increased by +642%, while, in tune with the winter season and the confluence of colds and viruses, paracetamol grew by +60% compared to the same period.

“The high rate of spread of the omicron variant -sixth wave- and the return of the mandatory nature of the mask outdoors in December are some of the factors that have been able to favor this significant upturn, together with the fact that the population is aware of the high transmission of omicron”, they point out from the organization’s Data area.

FFP2 and FFP3 have a effectiveness high filter -92%, in the first case, and 98%, in the second, although the specifications of each manufacturer must be observed-, protecting against environmental particles and aerosols and preventing us from inhaling harmful particles, including those that cause the spread of the coronavirus.

If the data is compared month by month with respect to the previous year, it can be seen that, in November 2021, the increase was +206%, going from +931% in December to +959% in January (ten days before the end of the month).

By autonomous communities, notable increases in demand higher protection masks, between November and January, well above the average in Navarra (+1,104%), Catalonia (+1,003%), the Canary Islands (+840%), La Rioja (+796%), Aragón (+746%) or the Community of Madrid (+674%).

In relation to the paracetamol demand in the analyzed period, Ceuta (+274%), Navarra (+114%), La Rioja (+91%), Andalucía (+84%), Aragón (+81%) and Murcia (+70%) are the communities self-employed that have presented the greatest increase, adds this report of Cofares.