The meat consumption of the Germans is to be greatly reduced. The German Nutrition Society is planning drastic changes.
Bonn/Berlin – Currywurst is one of the most important, if not THE national dish of Germany. Although the kebab is now more popular than the currywurst in surveys, the snack dish remains an important cultural part of German identity.
| Professional society | German Nutrition Society |
| Foundation | 4 November 1953 |
| President | Jakob Linseisen |
| Seat | Bonn, Germany |
The German Nutrition Society (DGE) apparently wants to make a recommendation in the near future to greatly reduce the meat consumption of Germans. The currywurst could also go to the collar.
Urged to abstain from meat: DGE wants to recommend only 10 grams of meat a day
The good news first: Nothing will be banned for the time being. The currywurst drama cited merely refers to a planned recommendation by the DGE, which is intended to encourage German citizens to abstain from meat. According to reports in the Lebensmittelzeitung and Bild.de, which are said to have excerpts from the new food strategy, the DGE wants to drastically reduce the recommendation for daily meat consumption.
Is there a currywurst ban now? There will soon be new nutritional recommendations. © Imago (merkur.de assembly)
Currently, the DGE recommends a weekly meat consumption of 300 to 600 grams. This is now to be reduced to 70 grams, i.e. 10 grams of meat per day. That's so little that, according to the chief executive of the Dairy Industry Association, Eckhard Heuser, you could just about get to the weight of a small currywurst per month. He makes this calculation to the Lebensmittelzeitung. The luxury currywurst from Nuremberg would then certainly no longer be in it.
New recommendation of the DGE utopian: This is how much meat Germans eat
The fact that Germans like to eat meat is not a new finding – even if, according to the DGE, clean eating is in fashion. According to the DGE's 2021 nutrition report, men in Germany consume about 1100 grams per week and women about 590 grams. The women are just within the recommended range, the men well above. So reducing meat consumption so much seems to be an impossibility.
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Consequences for citizens: canteens would have to reduce the supply of meat
"It's insane and impractical," Heuser told Bild. The recommendation could have disadvantages, especially for providers such as canteens. Although curry sausage is no longer one of the most popular dishes in canteens, it is still bought a lot. If the recommendation of the DGE is actually made, this could change.
If a canteen wants to keep its DGE certificate, it would have to significantly reduce the range of meat on offer – and therefore also that of currywurst – or resort to plant-based alternatives to sausage. This could mean a loss of customers and thus less sales. Of course, this is not the intention of the DGE, but it would be one of the possible effects. In fact, with the new recommendation, the DGE is not supposed to have providers or the health of citizens in mind. Rather, it is about sustainability and an improved CO2 balance. Fortunately, it is only a recommendation for private individuals. How much meat and how many curry sausages each German eats per month or per day is ultimately up to you.
