Whether tofu sausages or soy burgers - there are many options for meat-free barbecue enjoyment.
Often you have to dig deeper into your pocket for this than for neck steak and Co. This has consequences for the environment.
Berlin (dpa) - The barbecue season is in full swing - and savings and discount offers on barbecue products attract many people to the supermarket.
An analysis by the environmental organization WWF now shows that the majority of grilled meat in German supermarkets is much cheaper than meat substitute products.
Experts warn of the ecological consequences of this price imbalance.
For the analysis, the WWF recorded 922 grilled meat offers in the advertising brochures of eight German supermarket chains between the end of April and the end of May.
Specifically, retailers advertise discounted steaks or grilled pork sausages with an average kilo price of EUR 6.36 or discounted poultry meat for EUR 5.67 per kilo.
Tofu sausage and soy burger are more than twice as expensive at 13.79 euros per kilo, even when they are on offer.
On average, 85 percent of the discounted grilled meat was cheaper than vegetable alternatives.
In addition, grilled meat products are advertised almost 30 times more often than meat substitute products.
In addition, according to the analysis, very few products come from higher forms of husbandry.
Only two percent of the discount products were of organic quality; for many, the origin was not even shown.
Tanja Dräger de Teran, nutritionist at WWF, criticizes the fact that the masses of cheap meat are detrimental to the environment. In order for meat to be sold so cheaply, cattle must be kept en masse and animal feed such as soy must be imported from South America. That heats up the climate and destroys valuable habitats. “The Amazon is sold off with cheap meat,” she criticizes. Around 96 percent of the soya-growing area would be needed for animal feed - and only four percent for plant-based foods.
The Federal Environment Agency (UBA) also emphasizes that livestock farming and the high consumption of animal products in Germany have a negative impact on the environment and the climate. The high level of intensive animal husbandry makes a significant contribution to the emission of climate-damaging gases such as methane, which ruminants release during digestion. Laughing gas emissions and nutrient surpluses as a result of slurry storage and spreading are also harmful.
“We have massive emissions into the air and into the ground. Therefore, in addition to procedural measures, it would be important to significantly reduce the consumption of meat and animal products, ”says Almut Jering from the UBA. These measures could include filters on the stalls or the energetic use of farm manure. In addition, antibiotics used in intensive animal husbandry ended up in the environment, she criticizes.
But why is meat substitute often more expensive than meat?
Antje Risius, who researches sustainable eating styles at the University of Göttingen, explains the striking price differences by the fact that meat is an established product on the market, but substitute products are still "newcomers".
“The meat market has an incredible competitive advantage because the structures there are already established.
It is possible to produce on a completely different level, efficiently and structurally at very reasonable prices. "
Because they are mostly still in the development phase, replacement products would still have relatively high investment costs.
In addition, they are often very heavily processed - and the many intermediate processing steps are also expensive, says Risius.
The fact that unprocessed vegetables are sometimes more expensive than meat, depending on the production process and season, can also be explained by the production structures.
For fruit and vegetable production, Germany is heavily dependent on imports.
"In Germany we achieve a self-sufficiency rate of just over 30 percent with vegetables," says Dräger de Teran.
In addition, more manual labor is often required here and vegetables usually take longer to land on the consumer's plate.
The fattening time for a grilled chicken is around 30 days, while broccoli takes around 90 days from sowing to harvest.
The WWF warns that the price imbalance between meat and meat substitute products is causing many people to resort to meat for reasons of cost.
Dräger de Teran demands that sustainable nutrition should not remain a social issue.
“We have to get to the point where the simple choice is the good, healthy and sustainable choice.
And we are still a long way from that. "
A growing range of meat and milk substitute products in supermarkets is attracting more and more people's interest despite the often higher price, says Jering from the UBA.
Recently, the number of people who followed a vegetarian or vegan diet has increased significantly.
"I believe that there is a certain amount of social progress going on."
Meanwhile, the WWF sees politics and business as having a greater responsibility.
The organization is demanding a steering tax based on sustainability criteria on food of animal origin from the next federal government, which is less of a burden on products from organic agriculture.
Retailers need a change in pricing policy: For example, discounts should no longer be given on meat and sausage products, except shortly before the use-by date.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210618-99-42111 / 2