The data analysis of world consumption, but above all their variability from region to region, leads to the consideration that the direct correlation between meat consumption and sustainability is always very critical unless it is contextualised. Statements like “you eat too much meat” or “meat consumption is unsustainable” should be contextualised to proven data, to understand whether this is completely true or is more true in some parts of the world.

Obviously, this work provides only a preliminary view of the problem, which could be discussed further with a more detailed analysis. However, it seems clear enough that:

• meat consumption is on the rise both by virtue of higher per capita consumption in some areas of the world, and (and above all) for the increase of the global population;
• there is a strong imbalance between the world’s regions: the per capita consumption of meat in North America is more than 4 times higher than the average African states;
• the consumption of beef in Europe has not shown substantial increases since the late nineties.

With regards to meat consumption in Italy, it was decided to compare the apparent consumption data, available and already consulted in FAO databases with those of actual consumption. To this end, the various public sources cited in the bibliography were analysed. Despite being rather complex to uniquely identify a given real or apparent consumption, the results made it possible to draw some broad considerations.

Studying the details of the data analysed, it can be seen that the apparent consumption value is about 230 g of meat per capita per day, while the real consumption is equal to about 110 grams, which is not far from what is suggested by the nutritional guidelines.

This difference is also consistent with the average data yield between edible meat and the carcass of the animals. With regards to actual consumption, according to the Leclerc study of 2009, this is around 20-25 g per day.