Sustainable Meat

Which is the Most Sustainable Meat?

OK, I admit it.  I’m naive.

I think of lamb and I picture fluffy little lambs, frolicking around on green pastures.

Vast swathes of land were given over to sheep grazing when I was growing up in Ireland.  (Often, there wasn’t much else you could do with that land, it was rocky and hilly).

Picture-postcard Ireland  – a farmer herding his sheep across a country lane.  Yes, that’s what it was like in rural Ireland.

But lamb meat, according an EWG (the Environmental Working Group) report,  is the least sustainable meat of all, when you look at it from cradle-to-grave environmental impact.

They evaluated the impact of popular factory-farmed meats from the pesticides used to grow animal feed all the way through animal raising, feeding, processing, transportation, cooking and finally, disposal of unused food.

(Phew, that must have been a real mission to undertake!).

Ruminants (e.g. cattle and sheep) produce large amounts of methane through their digestive processes.  That’s one of the reasons why lamb and beef top the list of the most non – sustainable meat ***.

Which Meats are the worst offenders?

The worst offenders (i.e. the least sustainable meat) are

1. Lamb
2. Beef
3. Cheese
4. Pork
5. Farmed Salmon

But lamb is not eaten as much as beef in many countries, so its environmental impact is not felt as much as that of wildly popular beef.

So, although I was surprised to see lamb as the worst offender by weight, its global impact isn’t huge due to lower volumes being eaten.

Cheese – who would have guessed?

The other surprise was cheese.  Cheese!  The 3^rd worst offender for environmental impact – wow!

It’s due to methane production while the cows produce the milk for the cheese, of course – logical, when you think about it (which I hadn’t, until now).

Beef is Not Sustainable Meat

We know beef is not a sustainable meat.

Factory-farmed beef is

• Not healthy for us (increased exposure to toxins , linked to higher risk of heart disease, cancer and obesity).
• Not healthy for the environment (producing meat in huge quantities needs massive amounts of pesticides, fertilizer, fuel, feed and water, and produces vast emissions of methane)
• Not healthy for animals (animal welfare normally comes after business  concerns).

It’s good to have that confirmed in this major report.

Which Meat is the Most Sustainable?

According to the report, your best meat choices are

• Tuna
• Chicken
• Turkey

In that order, i.e. tuna has a lower impact than chicken.

(But beans and legumes, nuts and others have a relatively tiny environmental impact, far, far less than meat and cheese).

The report looked primarily at the most popular eating choices in the USA.  So if your favourite meat / fish / poultry isn’t listed, that’s why.

*** As a ruminant, lamb obviously has a large environmental impact.  But it tops the list partly because it produces less edible meat relative to the sheep’s live weight.

Next: easy (and affordable!) ways to reduce your impact with sustainable meat.

P. S.  All this talk of grazing in the countryside got me thinking about the countryside in general and country singers in particular.  Michael D. Walker is one of those really nice guys who just knows everyone.  In his blog he talks famous names the way I talk about eco friendly stuff.  (As in, all the time).  I always learn some fascinating detail about someone famous whenever I read his articles.  Relying on Michael for up-to-the-minute information and details, I was saddened to read about Glen Campbell’s health, and fascinated by Michael’s depth of knowledge as to the people involved in the making of a delightful video.  See what I’m talking about on Michael’s web site.

Related Articles:

Sustainable Meat – Grass Fed, Pastured

Sustainable Meat – Video

Sustainable Meat – How does it Taste?

Photo Credit: Free-foto