So much meat you may eat per week

255 grams a week. It is the short answer to how much meat you can eat without the planet suffering overload. And then it should be added that it only applies to poultry and pork.

It writes DTU in a press release via Ritzau.

Beef can not be eaten at all in meaningful quantities without exceeding the planetary boundaries, a scientific article shows a group of DTU scientists published in the journal Nature Food. This is stated by Caroline H. Gara, a postdoc at DTU Sustain and lead author of the studio.

« Our calculations show that even moderate amounts of red meat in one’s diet are incompatible with what the planet can regenerate of resources based on the environmental factors we have looked at in the study. On the other hand, there are many other diets – also with meat – which are both healthy and sustainable, » she says.

How much is ‘less’?

The first goal of the researchers was to investigate whether it is at all possible to meet the nutritional needs of the entire Earth’s population without breaking the planetary boundaries. According to the calculations, this may well be possible. But it will require our food consumption to be rescheduled at both globally and individual levels, says Caroline H. Gara.

« The global rescheduling requires political action at the top level, while the individual transition becomes far easier if we get better guidance and frameworks that support the sustainable choices, » she says.

The next goal of the research was therefore to come up with very specific figures for how much of different foods you can eat without consuming more of the Earth’s resources than it can regenerate, says Caroline H. Gara.

« Most people are aware that we should eat less meat for both environmental and health reasons. But it is difficult to relate to how much ‘less’ is and whether it really benefits something in the big perspective. Therefore, based on the planetary boundaries, we have calculated a specific number- 255 grams of poultry or pig a week- which you can actually look at when looking at when you look at the refrigerator, » she says. « 

In Danish supermarkets, a package of two chicken breast fillets typically weighs 280 grams and is thus a bit above the limit of what one person can eat in a week without crossing the planet’s limit.