The power of Big Meat: The meat industry and Australia's live export trade

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-07-30 01:00

Australia; NSW; VIC

Image by Leopictures from Pixabay

The Australian government has not acted to phase out or effectively regulate the live export industry, which reflects the sizeable power of the meat industry, according to Australian experts. The researchers look at the power of "Big Meat' in Australia, Brazil, China and the US and how the meat industry has managed to ensure that some of the costs of production are borne, not by the producer, but by people, animals, and ecosystems. They highlight the animal welfare harms associated with the Australian live export trade and say that despite public concerns and media exposés, the industry continues to operate, enabled by an interdependent relationship between it and the Australian government.

Attachments

Note: Not all attachments are visible to the general public. Research URLs will go live after the embargo ends.

Research Cell Press, Web page Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).

Other The Conversation, Web page Creative Commons-licensed story in The Conversation

Journal/
conference: One Earth

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Deakin University, The University of Melbourne, The University of Sydney

Funder: K.S. was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Postgraduate Award scholarship. NHMRC were not involved with Q14 study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation, writing of the manuscript, or decision to submit for publication. K.S. received funding from the World Health Organization on the topic of red and processed meat and its implications for human and planetary health. C.P. is a Chief Investigator for the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society and is a member of the Social Sciences and Economic Advisory Group for Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). M.L. is a member of the FSANZ Board; the views expressed in this paper do not necessarily represent the views, decisions, or policies of the FSANZ Board. P.B. is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship award funded by the Australian Government (FT220100690) and a Horizon Fellowship funded by the University of Sydney.

Media Contact/s

Contact details are only visible to registered journalists.