CALF_News_Feb_March_2019

8 CALF News • February | March 2019 • www.calfnews.net Rumblings From the Great White North  CALF VOICES By Will Verboven Contributing Editor Canadian Study Disparages Meat Consumption Sound Familiar? T here are times when one wonders if there is a grand conspiracy by self-appointed consumer lobby groups, politically correct academics and busy-body government bureaucrats to disparage meat consump- tion and beef in particular. I expect most readers can recall seeing some study or survey alleging that consumers are reducing their consump- tion of red meats. Sure enough, another tedious study has been released that, once again, is predicting the imminent demise of meat consumption in Canada. It all sounds so familiar couched in the usual scientific buzzwords and spin doctoring designed to get the attention of gullible urban media. They then add their misguided observations on the matter with sensa- tional headlines. One frenzied city media outlet even interpreted this study as a message for livestock growers to consider getting out of the doomed meat produc- tion business. The hidden focus was on beef consumption even though the study was on meat in general. Apparently, if the consumption of chicken or turkey declines it’s not of as much interest to salacious-minded city editors. Fear not livestock producers, you are not about to be put out of business by the world’s consumers suddenly intending to switch to a vegetarian diet of tofu and turnip pie, despite what this study alleges. The survey that caused the media frenzy was put out by Dalhousie Univer- sity of Nova Scotia in eastern Canada. The study had the cumbersome title, “Plant-based dieting and meat attach- ment: Protein wars and the changing Canadian consumer.” It was released to coincide withWorld Vegan Day on Nov. 1 – no accident there, as publicity-hungry researchers and universities have become adept at manipulating the news media. I suspect that the vegetarian lobby group propaganda machine was alerted to this study in advance and will have been touting and promoting it as proof that meat eating will soon end, and the planet will be saved. Naturally everyone knows that climate change can only be really stopped if everyone switches to a diet of kale and celery salad. But I digress. One notes a growing trend among survey researchers to extrapolate a miniscule survey into an accurate reflec- tion of the vast majority of consumer opinion. The Dalhousie survey was based on a three-day survey from 1,027 respondents – from that the research- ers made the astounding claim that 6.4 million Canadians (out of a population of 32 million) were going to restrict their consumption of meat, with one-third doing so in the next six months! Wow! Looks like it’s time to shut down meat processing plants right away. Curiously, 97.72 percent of those surveyed stated that they were meat eaters of one sort or another – that fact was not highlighted in the press release. Another factor not mentioned was the socio-economic, ethnic and geographic composition of those surveyed. Was the survey composed of the Alumni of Dalhousie University, or slanted toward folks who had time and inter- est to do online surveys? Of the 1,000 respondents, how many were ordinary working-class folks – 2 or 200? How many were young Millennials surfing the web to kill time? Not detailing the respondents’ eco- nomic and social status was either naïve or willfully ignorant. On the other hand, do survey researchers actually believe that a person responding to an online survey will admit that they earn less than $20,000 and are an undereducated white male? Recent elections have shown the shortcomings in how short-sighted survey population segmentation meth- ods can produce dubious results. The other overriding aspect to this survey was how the questions were posed. They at times dripped with political correctness and emotion. Here are some gems to consider from the survey questions’ premise.  “When I eat meat, I’m reminded of the deaths and suffering of animals …”  “I feel awful when I think of eating meat …” Fear not livestock producers, you are not about to be put out of business by the world’s consumers suddenly intending to switch to a vegetarian diet of tofu and turnip pie, despite what this study alleges. Continued on page 10 