India is projected to be one of the largest growth areas for consumption in chicken, beef, and mutton. The consumption of meat is increasing in India and agriculture is considered as the backbone of a majority of people. Livestock plays a significant role, and poultry and dairy are the major sectors contributing to economic development. The majority of meats consumed in India are fish, bovine, mutton, goat, pig, and poultry. In Indian context, culture, traditions, customs, and taboos influence meat consumption to a great extent. The urbanization has been causing a rise in demand for meat products. India is the world’s second largest exporter of beef. In India, 95% of goat meat produced is consumed locally.
The preference and consumption of chicken meat can be considered as a universal phenomenon and chicken meat is greatly accepted by consumers in India as compared to the other meat consumption. The increase of chicken meat consumption is due to the versatility of the meat, relatively low cost in comparison to other meat, and the acceptance of the chicken meat to all religions. There has been a great rise in the production of livestock products and this is expected to continue in the future. The pattern of meat consumption depends considerably on culture, tradition and urbanization. This review was formulated with the objective of identifying the meat consumption patterns in a typical Indian society.
The demand for meat is expected to grow faster in India with sustained economic growth, rising per capita income, strengthening urbanization trends and increasing awareness of the nutritive value of meat and meat products. By 2020, the demand for milk is estimated to reach 143 million tonnes and that of meat and eggs eight million tonnes.
While demand from high-end hotels, restaurants and retailers is driving imports of pork products to India, there is a largely separate but significant market for locally produced pig meat in north-eastern states - which include Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura - as well as in Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Goa and Kerala.