“Meatless Monday”

Many people who tried going meatless one day a week to call attention to food and climate change continued after the campaign ended, a new study says.

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Researchers surveyed 320 households from Bedford, NY, that took part in the town’s “Meatless Monday” campaign in 2018. For 12 weeks, participants ate no meat one day a week.

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In a survey six months later, nearly 57% of respondents said they were eating less meat than before the campaign, and more than 70% said they skip meat every Monday or at least once a week.

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Nearly 70% said it was easy or very easy to cut back, and 68% said they were more committed to going meatless on one day of the week.

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Respondents said the biggest challenge was friend and family preferences for and/or eating habits around meat.

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Participants were also surveyed at the start and end of the campaign. In all three surveys, health was the most common reason given for eating less meat.

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At the end of the 12-week campaign, health fell as a reason while climate change, the environment, energy saving and water conservation moved up.

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In the six-month follow-up survey, climate and environment fell slightly as reasons for reducing meat consumption but were still higher than at the start, according to the findings.

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The study was presented last week at a meeting of the American Public Health Association, in Philadelphia.

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Researchers noted that Bedford, NY, has a higher education and income level than the average U.S. community.

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“As a result, the results skew toward higher awareness and smaller levels of behavior change because they were already eating less meat,” said study author Becky Ramsing. She’s a senior program officer at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

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“At the same time, the findings can help us understand which strategies may be most effective in building community awareness and action around food and climate,” Ramsing said in a meeting news release.

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Research presented at meetings is generally considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.