THE RATE OF CONSUMPTION 203 



information is available concerning the production (and the con- 

 sumption) of cereals and other crops. Not only is such informa- 

 tion eagerh/ sought for by the world's great produce markets, but 

 it is more "easily collected and recorded, since every farmer and 

 peasant knows fairly accurately his acreage under different crops, 

 and the collecting of all the produce at harvest times makes it 

 easy to arrive at the total yield. 



In three important countries, however, namely, the United 

 States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, the per capita con- 

 sumption of meat and meat products for recent years has been 

 fairly accurately ascertained, so that variations in the consumption 

 from year to year can be studied. The same is true to a more 

 limited extent of the per capita consumption of butter, cheese and 

 milk. The per capita consumption of margarine, it may be noted, 

 can be obtained with great accuracy owing to^the concentration 

 of production in a limited number of factories. Fairly accurate 

 figures for the per capita consumption of the various animal food- 

 stuffs are available also for some countries of smaller population, 

 as, for example, Canada, and in addition for a number of cities in 

 countries where complete statistics for the whole population are 

 wanting. With the assistance, therefore, of such estimates as 

 have been made concerning the per capita consumption in these 

 latter countries it is possible to form some idea of the figures for 

 most meat-consuming countries. It mast, however, be under- 

 stood that such figures vary in value, and that some are used under 

 this reservation in default of more accurate official information. 



It is necessary for the proper interpretation of statistics of meat 

 consumption to distinguish between dressed meat and dressed 

 meat plus edible offal. The latter is said to be nearly 18% of the 

 dressed weight of cattle, sheep and swine. 1 



Except in the case of the United States, where the weight of 

 the extra-edible parts has been detailed separately in the statistics 

 of consumption, it appears that the official figures (or the estimates) 

 of meat consumption available for most countries refer to dressed 

 meat only. Some addition should accordingly be made in order 

 to arrive at the total weight of meat consumed for these countries. 

 This addition would require to be greater for the meat-exporting 

 than for the meat-importing countries, since when carcases are 

 prepared for export as frozen or chilled meat the extra edible parts 

 are separated and are often retained in the exporting country. 

 Certain parts, especially the tongues, are tinned and exported from 



1 U.S. Dept. of Agric., Bureau of Crop Estimates, Report 109, p. 129. 

 This is the average for the United States. The proportion of extra edible 

 parts to dressed weight is presumably lower for sheep and pigs than for cattle. 

 The average percentage of edible offal to dressed weight would therefore be 

 greater when beef forms a larger proportion of the total meat consumed 

 and the proportions of beef, mutton and pig-meat consumed vary greatly 

 from one country to another. Lard, fats, oils (except commercial tallow) 

 are usually entered under the head of meat products and appear in consump- 

 tion as meat. 



