A Dutch study estimated that around 18 billion animals are killed every year, but then end up in the garbage, without being consumed.
According to the estimate made by a Dutch study, it could be around 18 billion per year. In fact, every 12 months over 100 billion chickens, cattle, pigs, sheep, horses etc. are slaughtered. For many this is already unacceptable, both for ethical and environmental reasons, linked to the enormous feed production required by farming.
Waste. «Many of these animals evidently die in vain. By cross-referencing data on livestock farming in various countries with data on wasted food, we have in fact estimated that around 18 billion animals are killed every year, but then end up in the garbage, without being consumed”, explains ecologist Juliane Klaura on Sustainable Production and Consumption. The calculation was made by dividing the 54 million tons of meat thrown away every year by the average weight of farm animals.
Dying in vain. In poor countries, waste occurs above all at the beginning of the supply chain, due to animal diseases or meat conservation problems, «in rich countries, however, the production chains are much more efficient, but it is the consumers who buy too much, and then, given the prices kept artificially low, they throw away the uneaten meat, without thinking about it».
The most wasteful countries? United States, Brazil and South Africa.
