Red Meat Research Paper

1516 Words7 Pages
Red meat, “all meats obtained from mammals (regardless of cut or age) are red meats because they contain more myoglobin than fish or white meat (but not necessarily dark meat) from chicken”(USDA). The meat industry is a large segment of U.S agriculture, which is roughly 5.8% of total GDP and contributing almost $832 billion annually. When it comes to red meat, the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is beef. Beef is a huge part of the agriculture industry but there are many side effects of this beef industry that the mass are not aware of. Although the beef industry is a big chunk of the food system and the economy, alternatives to beef is important since beef contributes to global warming too. Mutton, pork, chicken, fish count as alternative,…show more content…
Since this research topic is about sustainable meat options, especially wild meat such as venison can be a good alternative. Switching from beef to venison in once a month can decrease the demand of beef drastically. The reason venison can be termed as sustainable due to the overpopulation and lack of necessity of farming. More than that, harvesting of deer will also contribute to the economy and will also balance the nature. Agriculture has contributed towards the global warming highly and now there should be measures to minimize the contribution rate. Producing meat in a sustainable way will not be a threat to nature. Red meat, white meat, soy, anything can have carbon footprint if not cultivated or farmed and maintained in a certain…show more content…
Production of beef takes up more resources in comparison to the production of other types of red meat. And the food conversion to output ratio in beef is pretty lower compared to other types of meat. When it comes to food conversion efficiency, cow is pretty low compared to other farmed animals. “Production of a pound of beef requires 6.7 pounds of grains and forage, 52.8 liters of water and irrigated feed crops, 74.5 square feet of grazing land and growing feed crops” (Capper). Production of beef also costs “1036 BTUs of feed production and transport, which is enough to power a typical microwave for 18 minutes” (Capper). It is easy to imagine how many resources are spent annually for beef production. Cattle farming requires a huge amount of land for grazing and industrial purpose, which leads to deforestation. A huge portion of land needs to get converted to pasture land for cattle farming. 30% of earth’s mass is occupied just by cattle farming. More than that, beef industry is highly responsible for the global warming. Cow releases “between 70 and 120 kg of Methane per year. Methane is a greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide (CO2). But the negative effect on the climate of Methane is 23 times higher than the effect of CO2. Therefore the release of about 100 kg Methane per year for each cow is equivalent to about 2'300 kg CO2 per year”. (Environmental Impacts on Food Production and Consumption). According to the

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