By Gab­by Esposito
May 2021
Online Jour­nal­ism / UConn

The issues that arose in meat fac­to­ries dur­ing the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic exposed the fragili­ty of human labor and the risk of depend­ing on it. As the infec­tion rates spiked among the work­ers in the meat indus­try, the plants were met with chal­lenges in pro­duc­ing the same quan­ti­ty and qual­i­ty of meat. This became prob­lem­at­ic giv­en the depen­dence the coun­try has on meat.

These events sur­round­ing the meat indus­try dur­ing the pan­dem­ic only fur­ther brought to light already exist­ing worries.

The unsus­tain­able nature of the indus­try has led to the devel­op­ment of numer­ous plant-based alter­na­tives which have risen in pop­u­lar­i­ty. McDon­ald’s, Burg­er King, Dunkin’ Donuts, and White Cas­tle, are some of more pop­u­lar fast-food chains which now offer veg­an meat options. 

The rise in plant-based alter­na­tives dur­ing the past cou­ple years, is accom­pa­nied by a decline in meat indus­try sales. Accord­ing to the Food and Agri­cul­ture Orga­ni­za­tion of the Unit­ed Nations, glob­al meat pro­duc­tion will decline in 2020 for the sec­ond year in a row, and only the third year since 1961. How­ev­er, plant-based meat sales rose 264% in 2020. 

Despite what hap­pened last year in their attempts to keep meat sales up, com­pa­nies like Tyson have rec­og­nized the unsus­tain­abil­i­ty of their indus­try unless meat is rede­fined. In 2016, Tyson bought a 6% stake in plant-based com­pa­ny Beyond Meat, how­ev­er, in 2019, the com­pa­ny decid­ed to sell it so that they could start ven­tur­ing into pro­duc­ing their own plant-based meat. 

So, will the meat industry actually decline? Below is a conversation with PETA Senior Educational Project’s Manager Kenneth Monteville on why the meat industry is not yet more of a concern as well as the reality of its future.