Changes in Consumption Patterns of Meat and Confectioneries in India

Running head: GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM
Global Food System
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1GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM
With the change in time, human beings undergo several changes in every aspect of
their life, be it in their social life, behaviours, attitudes or food habits. People have become
more health and sustainability conscious than ever before. The growth in the rate of education
and knowledge among people throughout the world has led to this transformation. However,
it is also to note that the digitisation of the social and economic life in Asian countries,
specifically in India, has promised to bring in significant changes to the patterns of
consumption. This paper is going to elaborate on discussing India, investigating the changes
in the rate of use over the last twenty years for two different food products or categories. The
chosen food categories are meat and confectioneries. It would also provide the reasons for
those changes.
Feeding the entire populations of India is a challenge, which has long been captivated
the interest of global researchers and thinkers all around the world. As per the year 2010, the
total population of India reached about 1.19 billion (Naik & Bobade, 2016). It accounted for
the then 1/5th of the total global population. It is therefore expected that such figures would
continue to reach and exceed 3 billion by the year 2050. However, the eating habits of the
Indians have undergone some notable changes in the last 20 years. As per the recent statistics,
India is consuming more on the whole, and at the same time, the Indians are living longer
than ever before. It is to note that the consumption of meat is gradually increasing in India.
Majority of the chickens that are consumed in India are pig, mutton, goat, bovine, fish and
poultry. Very recently, the consumption of beef has also been seen among many Indians as
per the recent reports by Guilmoto and Oliveau (2018). It is also to mention in this context
that in India, the consumption of meat is determined by the religions. For example, beef is
prohibited among the Hindus and pork is forbidden among the Muslims
(Khara & Ruby, 2019). With the same, the preference and the consumption of the meat of
chicken can be regarded as something universal as chicken meat is widely accepted by the

2GLOBAL FOOD SYSTEM
consumers in India more than any other meat source. However, it is also to mention that
despite all the changes and notwithstanding the fast-growing population of the nation and its
economy, India is still considered to be one of the most vegetarian countries in the world.
Item Rural Urban All
Quantity
(Kg)
Value
(Rs)
Volume
(Kg)
Amount
(Rs)
Quantity
(Kg)
Amount
(Rs)
Goat meat or
Mutton
0.047 4.31 0.070 7.85 0.053 5.21
Buffalo and beef
meat
0.031 1.34 0.056 2.26 0.037 1.57
Pork 0.006 0.40 0.005 2.26 0.037 1.57
Chicken 0.050 .014 0.085 5.49 0.059 3.73
Other Meats 0.003 0.11 0.002 0.06 0.003 0.10
Total meat 0.137 9.30 0.218 15.95 0.158 10.98
Table 1: Per capita consumption of beef in the year 2002 (Islam et al., 2016)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Per Capita in
Kg
1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.2
In Kilotons 2645.9 2889.6 3062.1 3154.7 3246.8
Table 2: Rate of consumption of meat in the year 2010-2014 (Joy et al., 2017)
As per Khan, Nomani and Salman (2016), it is due to urbanisation that there is such a
significant rise in the demand for the meat products in India, which is considered to be the
second largest beef exporter in the world. About 95% of the goat meat in India is produced
locally. In particular, the consumption of beef is determined by the religions where the pork