The future of food is animal-friendly (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 3 : Environment
Prelims level : Not much
Mains level : Rising of heat related problem with meat consumption

Context

• Food is regarded to evolve emotions in people. With the ever-increasing population, it has become difficult to feed the people of nations like India.
• The burning of the forests of Amazon as part of the ranching done by the people to plant crops for food reminds of the dire situation.
• In this context, it is necessary to understand the problems of the meat industry.

Key highlights about the problems

• Reduction in calorie intake as per the rules of the food chain on eating meat is a structural problem.
• The meat industry wastes about one-third of the world’s water.
• The antibiotics used by the meat industry pose a global threat of Antimicrobial Resistance.
• Animals are crammed and brutally slaughtered.

Way Forward

• Plant-Based meat and clean meat grown in the laboratory are the solutions.
• The world’s first cell-based meat company, Memphis Meats, has been cofounded by Uma Valeti, a Mayo Clinictrained cardiologist from Vijayawada.
• Plant-based meat should be made in India as crops like chickpeas, millets, ragi etc grow very well here.
• Thus it is suggested to support this sector as this sector can alleviate the climate impact of the meat industry, augment farmers’ incomes, combat malnutrition and spare the lives of billions of animals.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Consider the following statements about Public Distribution System (PDS):
1. It is intended to make available the entire requirement of food grains distributed to any household in India.
2. It is operated under the joint responsibility of the Central and the State Governments.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: B
Mains Questions:
Q.1) How India’s population can benefit from making available plant-based and clean meat?