German cuisine is renowned for its heavy reliance on animal products, but the country`s federal environmental agency has ordered Germans to eat meat only on special occasions, according to Daily Telegraph.
Meat production accounts for as much as one fifth of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The agency has also warned that, by 2050, meat production is expected to reach 456 million tonnes, almost double that of 2001.
Germans are among Europe`s most carnivorous people, drawing nearly 40 per cent of their caloric intake from animal products. The Italians, by contrast, get about a quarter of their daily calories from meat.
"I recommend a return to Sunday roasts and an orientation on Mediterranean eating habits," Andreas Troge, the head of the federal environmental agency UBA, told the daily Berliner Zeitung.
He added that a reduction in meat consumption would also yield health benefits.
Research by the World Wildlife Fund found that a single kilogram of beef requires 16,000 litres of water, taking into account a three-year lifespan for a cow, the grain it eats in its lifetime, and the water it drinks.
Scientists recently advised environmentally-aware consumers to go without meat for at least two days a week in an effort to help the planet.
