New Zealander Eats Two & Half Times More Meat Than Englishman

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22820, 15 December 1948, Page 8

New Zealander Eats Two & Half Times More Meat Than Englishman

(10 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 14The average American eats twice as much meat and the average New Zealander two and a-half times as much as the average Englishman.

A report issued by the Commonwealth Economic Committee gives a detailed account of the changes in meat production consumption and trade. Last year Britons ate on an average 771 b. of meat per head, compared with 1191 b. before the war. While they were thus contriving to do without the traditional good roast of beef of old England,' the average American was developing his appetite. He ate loolb. of meat in 1947, compared with 1281 b. before the war. Canadians, too, ate more—l3olb. a head instead of 1111 b. Australians and New Zealanders ate less meat, but to the meat-starved Englishman their diet still seemed a heavy one. In Australia the pre-war consumption of 2391 b. dropped to 1831 b last year, while the New Zealand figure dropped from 2261 b. to 1941 b. European Losses. The report states that Europe lost 10 per cent, of its cattle. 20 per cent, of its sheep and a very large number of pigs as a result of the war. These losses were mostly offset by increases elsewhere. North America greatly increased its cattle herds and Argentina its flocks of sheep, while North and South America achieved an expansion of pig population. In general .the world trade in meat has not yet recovered to the pre-war average, the report states. Last year exports of beef were 15 per cent- below pre-war and exports of pork about 50 per cent, lower. The quantities of mutton and lamb in world trade, on the other hand, rose by 30 per cent. Commonwealth countries supplied one-half of Britain’s reduced imports of all meat last year, compared with about two-fifths before the war.