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Red Meat Competitors: Their Impact and Nutritive Value¹

University of Maryland, College Park

Abstract

The economic impact of red meat competitors can be partially assessed by examining the downward trend in meat prices over the past year. Table 1 is from the American Meat Institute and indicates the percentage change in meat prices from March 1976 to March 1977. Beef, pork and veal prices declined significantly over that 12-month period. Record levels of red meat production have contributed to this decline. However, a second factor has been consumer resistance based on cheaper alternative sources of protein. The American consumer is not sufficiently wedded to a diet high in red meat that he will lower his discretionary income to maintain it. All but the most financially unsophisticated now recognize that dietary protein is the most expensive part of the family food budget, and the likely place to economize when food prices soar is at the meat counter.

Although food energy is thought to be the number one problem in regard to worldwide food shortages, dietary protein has also received much attention.

¹ Invitational paper presented at the Symposium on "The Future Meat Industry in Service to Mankind," held during the 69th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, July 25, 1977.

² Department of Food, Nutrition and Institution Administration, College of Human Ecology, Division of Human and Community Resources, University of Maryland, College Park 20742.