Better to buy regional

Barbecued meat: cheap products are particularly harmful to the climate

(Bild: APA/GEORG HOCHMUTH)

The WWF's barbecue meat check misses climate protection when barbecuing, with supermarkets focusing instead on tempting offers of cheap meat. 90 percent of the 196 barbecue products with discounts examined were of animal origin, 95 percent of which came from conventional animal husbandry. Every fifth advertised product came from abroad. 

"These are the wrong incentives and signals: the flyers are full of special discounts on meat instead of promoting regional organic products and plant-based alternatives. This makes it difficult to make climate-friendly and healthy choices, even though more and more people want to eat sustainably," summarized Pegah Bayaty, spokesperson for sustainable nutrition at WWF Austria.

Austrians are meat eaters
In Austria, annual meat consumption averages 59 kilograms per capita, which is three to five times higher than recommended by environmental and health experts. In return, the WWF called for a fundamental rethink on the part of supermarkets and politicians towards a sustainable change in diet: "Due to the rise in prices, the federal government should abolish VAT on fruit, vegetables and pulses and present a package of measures for a sustainable change in diet. So far, little to nothing has happened here," criticizes Bayaty.

Criticism was also leveled at the fact that the heavily discounted conventional meat from Austria is often produced using soya feed imported from other regions of the world. "Only organic farming guarantees feeding without rainforest soy. In contrast, conventionally reared animals - especially pigs - are usually fed with imported soy, for which species-rich habitats such as tropical rainforests and savannahs are destroyed worldwide. In addition, animal welfare standards are significantly lower," said the WWF.

Barbecue products as a lure
For the current study, WWF evaluated the barbecue range in the flyers of Billa, Billa Plus, Spar, Lidl, Hofer and Penny between April 18 and May 16, 2024. A total of 196 barbecue products were on special offer, 177 of which were meat products.