We should reduce our intake of red meat.

10:56am Tuesday 6th May 2008

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WE'VE been hearing a lot in the media lately about the world food shortages, with plenty of speculation about how this situation has come about. One particular factor that people like to dwell on is the India-China effect. Economic growth in these countries has been gradually increasing wages so that now more people can afford to eat meat on a more regular basis and that's just what they do.

I'm not suggesting that this doesn't have an effect on the demand for grain to feed livestock. However, what often doesn't follow these reports is the fact that all that's happening is that people in India and China are merely starting to consume meat to the same levels that we consume for instance in the UK. Granted their populations are larger so the impacts will be proportionally more because of this. What I object to however, is that a lot of these reports on the world food crisis seem to suggest that we would almost be ok if India and China simply just didn't eat so much meat. Personally, I'm not a vegetarian myself. However, I have been reducing the amount of meat and meat products that I consume over the years simply because I don't think its economically or environmentally sustainable to do so.

Just like people in other countries, we need to start eating less meat in the UK. Better quality meat managed to more sustainable levels. We're being told that the world is eating too much and that includes us. It makes me sad to think that it takes 8kg of grain to produce 1kg of beef for a burger or 4kg of grain to make 1kg of chicken for a kiev and there's people in the world who are struggling to have one meal a day.

Andrea Lee.

Westminster Street, Crewe