The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1951-07-25
In The
Background
my The Associated PresH
MEAT

A~tS~ft9 aAlA CiiOP9 @bdFC b~GAt ~
the news lately more often than
they've been on dinner tables.
The high price o. beef has be-
come a national political issue,
with congress wrangling over
whether to roll back or not to roll
back. And the national appetite
for meat seems TO be caught IN
the middle.
AL this has aroused the Nation
al Geographic Society TO throw
off some facts about meat and
meat eating Meat, it seems, is an
International situation that af-
fects the health and happiness Of
several hundred million people.
On this score, we Americans
do pretty well. We are among the
best-fcd people in the world, with
an average consumption of l48
pounds Of red meat year Red
meat is beef, veal, pork, lamb or
mutton.
The men Of our armed forces
do better than the rest of US on
this score; the Army and Navy
have learned over the years what
the men want--and within reason
that's what they get. The AmerI-
can man in uniform gets about
f0Ilr.fifths Of "A pound Of red
meat a day---for a total Of 288
pounds a year. Half of it is beef.
~ percent is pork in some form,
and the rest is lamb or mutton
That armed forces rate of 288
pounds of red meat a year per
man is tops in all the world in or
out of armed forces. The biggest
meat eaters outside Of that group
are the Argentines. Argentina is
more or less over-run with beef
cattle, and the Argentines eat
them up as fast as they can--267
pounds per Argentine per year.
This is about 100 pounds more
than we American civilians eat.
We make ii up in chicken and fish
and things.
The Australians and New Zeal
anders also eat a lot more meat
than Americans do, but the ratio
Of beef is bwer. The AussieS 60
in for much lamb and mutton.
Where Argentina has cattle, Aus
traila has sheep, so the Aussies
and New Zealanders eat 245
pounds of meat a year, each.
These arc the world highs-the
champ beef4eaters ~ Argentina,
the U.S.A. and Australia and New
Zealand.
The most enthusiastic beef-eat-
ers are the British, but these days
their consumption is rationed to
nub--or a lean joint as they
might say. The average English
man who eats at home is getting
only about so pounds of meat
year--or one-t third of our own
current rate. This may sound like
very thin tea, but from a health
standpoint, it is not so bad as it
sounds.
Red meat is a wonderful source
of proteinS, vitamins and other
pecessaries. But it is not the only |
soufce. There is also fish. There |
are eggs and eggs products like |
rnacaroni---so called meat substi
tutes.
Our own department of agricul- |
tAre says the human in the adult
Stage needs 81 poands~of protein
foods Of all kinds, including red
meat. And in planning balanced
diet on very low incomes, the
bureau includes only 80 pounds
of meat per year. The scientists
say that such diet will maintain
health. And it has been the cx-
perience Of the British in the last
ten years of privation that these
scientific limits can actually bene
I'll the national health. II may be
dull, but its good for you.
The highest of the worlds
intoxicating rates is still lower
than il used to be. Time was
when people ate great deal
more meat than they do now
and it was seldom anything as
choice as a beef-steak or a rolled
roast.
Back in colonial days, the woods
we're full of game-venison being
the favorite. Buffalo meat was al
so regarded as choice. And in
those, the average man and wo-
man outside the eastern cities ate
about 800 pounds of meat year.
II was after the civil war that
America really began to concen-
trate seriously on beef.
The Spaniards had brought over
herds Of cattle, and by the middle
Of the 18th century, these herds
we're being rounded up and pack
cd off 10 market. II was in the
latter half of the century that
the great packing houses got
started-aud Americans got going
un beef The industry is now val
ued at some 20 billion dollars
from ranch to butcher shop,
Beef has always been subject
TO wild price changes, but this
years highs are generally regard
cd as the al-time peaks. Anyway
it's better than buffalo meat!