Toronto — March 14, 2014 — Meat production has increasingly become a highly centralized and mechanized industry. Only a handful of companies now own and control the vast majority of world meat production. At the same time, people living in the West continue to consume significantly higher volumes of meat than the rest of the world.

• $38.7 billion
  Annual revenues of JBS – the world’s largest food processing company. The company’s worldwide capacities can slaughter 85,000 head of cattle, 70,000 pigs and 12 million poultry – every day.

• $33.3 billion
  Annual revenues of Tyson Foods – the world’s second-largest food processing company. Tyson Foods is the largest producer of meat on the planet and second largest producer of chicken, beef and pork.

• $32.5 billion
  Annual revenues of Cargill – the world’s third-largest food processing company. Cargill, Tyson Foods and JBS are major employers of UFCW members in Canada and the United States.

• 78.1 million tonnes
  Average yearly meat production in China. China now produces and processes more meat than any other country in the world – more than all countries in Europe combined.

• 4.7 million tonnes
  Average yearly meat production in Canada, including beef, veal, pigs, poultry, sheep and goats. Tens of thousands of UFCW Canada members are employed in meatpacking and meat processing facilities.

• 26.5 kilograms
  Average annual beef consumption per person in the United States — home to the world's biggest consumers of beef.

• 20.2 kilograms
  Average annual beef consumption per person in Canada. Beef consumption in Canada is surpassed only by the United States and Australia.

• 32.3 kilograms
  Average annual pork consumption per person in the European Union. Residents of the EU consume more pork than anyone else in the world.

• 16.7 kilograms
  Average annual pork consumption per person in Canada. Although pork and chicken consumption rates are high in many other countries, particularly in Asia, meat consumption rates in Western countries such as Canada continue to be significantly greater.

• 50.1 kilograms
  Average annual chicken consumption in the United States per person.

• 36.5 kilograms
  Average annual chicken consumption in Canada per person. Particularly in Western countries, chicken consumption is surpassing that of beef and chicken production is now highly industrialized.

• 2.4 kilograms
  Average annual chicken consumption in India per person. The consumption rate of chicken and meat in general is substantially higher in the West than virtually all countries in Asia and Africa. 

• 375 million
  Estimated number of vegetarians in India, accounting for approximately 31% of the population. India has the highest number and percentage of vegetarians in the world.

Source: Meat Atlas: Facts and figures about the animals we eat