Threat Of Global Diets

2 billion people worldwide consume a diet based mainly on meat compared to an estimated 4 billion people who live primarily on a plant-based diet. Many of these 4 billion lactoovovegetarians (people who only eat vegetables ) are forced to live on this type of plant based diet due to a shortage of resources such as fertile land, energy resources and access to fresh water. (1) The World Health organisation has recorded its concern of ‘the number of malnourished people ever recorded in history’, i n the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (9/03). This is in part due to the population growth in the world, and the declining availability of land, water and energy resources.’ (2) The major threat to the future survival of the human population this article …show more content…
According to the Global food and Water Crises Research Programme (7) ‘Australia must think ahead and plan to increase agricultural production and improve sustainability to 2050.’ Global diets are increasingly becoming homogenous . This in turn forces governments to focus on producing and importing food products that were previously consumed only in Western societies. Foods such as Halal based products, gluten free and organic appear to be the way to go. The public are becoming increasingly educated with regards to the source of their foods, and the agricultural sector will have to consider the global trend that is influenced by an influx of immigrants and a trend in the philosophy of the educated public who want a better product for their future. According to the article ‘Consumption Patterns and Food demands in Australia to 2050’, consumption levels per capita will rise and continue to do so. This will have a compounding effect on food demand. It is also interesting to note that the demand for processed food s has also climbed which makes demand on the meat industry another impact on our