IS ANNUAL `MEAT-OUT' ACTUALLY INCREASING MEAT CONSUMPTION?

IS ANNUAL `MEAT-OUT' ACTUALLY INCREASING MEAT CONSUMPTION?

BOULDER, Colo. (Wireless Flash) -- This Saturday (Mar. 20) is the 15th annual Great American Meatout, a day when all Americans are encouraged to stop eating meat. But it looks like the Meatout is a bit of a washout when it comes to getting people to kick the meat habit. According to Rick McCarty of the National Cattleman's Beef Association, Americans are actually eating more meat now than they did when the Meatout first started in 1984. McCarty says the average per capita meat consumption in 1984 was 168 pounds, but by last year it had soared to 178 pounds of pork, poultry and hamburger patties per person. Alex Hershaft of the Farm Animal Reform Movement, which founded the Great American Meatout, doesn't have a beef with the figures. He says the increase in meat eating shows that there's still a lot more work to be done to convince people that it's unkind and unhealthy to eat meat.

CONTACT: Alex Hershaft, ***; Bethesda, MD; (301) 530-1737; Rick McCarty, ***; Boulder, CO; (303) 694-0305