Study reveals 71% of people in the UK have experienced guilt about eating meat

A NEW study has revealed that 71 per cent of people in the UK have experienced guilt about eating meat.

Research carried out by The Vegan Society showed that a high percentage of people in the UK have experienced guilt about eating meat, as reported on Tuesday, November 1.

Even out of those not limiting their consumption of meat and animal products at all, 45 per cent said they felt guilty about it ‘some’ or ‘all’ of the time, the research showed.

To mark World Vegan Month this November, the charity launched its new campaign ‘Be AnimalKind’ which aims to “help people explore their relationship with all animals and think about why they love some animals but use others for food or clothing.”

The Society said: “As part of the campaign, 2,000 non-vegans, including meat-eaters, and those reducing their consumption of animal products, vegetarians and pescatarians, were asked questions to help understand the connection consumers make between farmed animals and their food.”

The survey titled “Share your thoughts”, was conducted online in October 2022 via the Attest platform.

The results revealed a generational gap.

For those aged 18-30, 80 per cent said they had felt guilty about eating meat. For those aged 50-65, the figure was only 59 per cent.

“Interestingly, when asked, older respondents were more likely to say they were ‘very much’ animal lovers (68 per cent) compared to younger respondents (61 per cent),” the Vegan Society noted.

“The results revealed the UK is still a ‘nation of animal lovers’: overall 65 per cent of the panel said they were ‘very much’ animal lovers, while 31% responded ‘somewhat’. Just 3.3 per cent of panellists said they had no interest in animals.”

It added: “There were stark differences between respondents’ level of guilt about eating different animal products.”

You can read the “select answers for each animal product as to whether they ‘ever felt guilty’ for eating them” here.

Campaign lead at The Vegan Society, Elena Orde, said: “No one wants to contribute to suffering but unfortunately most of us were raised to think of certain animals as ‘something’ rather than ‘someone’.

“Be AnimalKind is about helping us to reconnect with our sense of compassion and to learn how to live in alignment with our values. All animals deserve our love and respect.”

She added: “Be AnimalKind creates a welcoming and non-judgemental space for everyone to consider how their actions impact the lives of all animals, not just the ones we share our home with.”  

Visit the Be AnimalKind website for more information.

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