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OK so as a matter of course eat as little meat as possible. The energy, resources etc that go into producing meat are massive in volume compared to producing vegetation for human consumption. Your decision on how much meat is good to eat in this respect is an individual choice. But basically if everyone in India and China start to eat as much meat as what “we Westerners” eat now - then we’re all fucked.

Sustainability of any fish is under question too. And see the other article I just sent you which details the practical difficulties of actually eating / identifying sustainable fish. You need to consider the species, the time of year, the size of the individual fish, where it was caught and how it was caught - to comprehensively assess it’s sustainability.

We genarally only buy and eat MSC certified fish. MSC now certify a whole range of fish products. Outside of MSC certified stuff, we will buy fish if we know it’s been caught on a “day-boat” operating from a UK harbour. The idea being that there is less by-catch (basically less waste) and the boats are on a more sustainable scale than the industrial (using nets in which would fit seven jumbo jets), satellite navigated (to shoals of fish) boats.

Chicken. Only eat “free-range” as a minimum standard. Organic preferably. That way it will always be less intensive (less antibiotics [see attached article], less chemicals in feed, less GM in the animal feed) and better animal welfare.

Pork. Only eat “free-range” or “outdoor-reared” as a minimum standard. Organic preferably. Even “outdoor-bred” are only born outside and the raised indoors. Again less intensive = less antibiotics, less chemicals in feed, less GM in the animal feed and better animal welfare. If it’s pork and it doesn’t say free-range or outdoor-reared or organic, then it is definitely intensively produced.

I believe that if you’re choosing lamb or beef then it’s less likely to have been produced intensively.

Dairy - only buy organic.

The UK has some of the best animal welfare standards in the world - so only selecting UK meat is what we do. However currently being potentially impacted by various applications to intensify production.

Luckily we’ve found some good suppliers in Bristol for these higher welfare types of meat, often from relatively local sources. Organic butchers makes our lives very easy. But most butchers shops do tend to sell better quality, less intensive, more likely UK-produced, meat - though always ask first. Farmers markets are another great source for local, UK-produced, and often more affordable than a butcher shop.

With the higher animal welfare and lower intensiveness obviously the price increases. So then it’s about selection of cut / joint to find something affordable. Shoulders of pork / mutton. Pork belly. All slow-roasting cuts. Even organic you’re paying up to / less than £10 per kilo. Chicken: we never buy breast, just thighs, drumsticks and wings. Free-range wings as cheap as £4 per kilo. Organic with bone-in thighs generally around £6 per kilo. Cheaper cuts generally require more cooking but are also generally more tasty.

Then it’s also about portion size with meat. You can’t have a third / half the volume of your meal as meat, it needs to be more like a quarter I reckon. So, example, we’d eat one good sized duck leg between two people. And have a good plate of various cooked veg and raw veg / salad to accompany.

I’d seriously suggest you read this book. The best written and most comprehensive book on food issues that I’ve come across. Even has an inspirational and enlightening section on how democracy should truly work.

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Thanks Dan!