CBC News · Posted: Apr 24, 2020   
      
   Will COVID-19 change our food habits?   
      
      
   On April 20, the Cargill meat-packing plant in High River, Alta., shut its   
   doors after 515 cases of COVID-19 were linked to the plant. It's just one of   
   the many meat-packing plants closing across Canada and the U.S. in response to   
   the rapid spread of the    
   novel coronavirus.   
      
   These closures have sparked concerns over potential food shortages, although   
   to date none have been reported. But there may be other side-effects to these   
   developments — namely, a change in the way people eat and buy food, which   
   may have knock-on    
   environmental impacts.   
      
   Out of concern for the availability of food, for example, some people have   
   turned to creating their own vegetable gardens. But it's harder to raise a cow   
   or pig in your backyard.   
      
   Chris Ratzlaff, a self-proclaimed meat-lover who lives in Airdrie, Alta., said   
   the pandemic has made him rethink his meat consumption. "It's very early days   
   for me, but it's definitely something on my radar," he said.  What worries him   
   isn't the carbon    
   footprint of meat, which is significantly higher than that of plant-based   
   proteins, but the connection between meat production and infectious diseases.   
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   He said his bigger concern is that a lot of deadly viruses "seem to be   
   connected to our heavy reliance on a mass-production meat industry." For   
   example, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as mad   
   cow disease, and the 2009 swine    
   flu have been linked to large-scale farming.   
      
   A 2016 report by the UN Environment Program warned that "livestock often serve   
   as an epidemiological bridge between wildlife and human infections," adding   
   "this is especially the case for intensively reared livestock."  Some argue   
   that farming on a    
   smaller scale does less damage to the environment, and in the wake of   
   COVID-19, reduces the risk of disease outbreaks.   
      
   Ratzlaff, who has "taco night" once or twice a week, said he's starting to   
   research other options to get his protein, though he's not counting out meat   
   entirely.  One of the changes he's considering is buying meat locally.   
      
   Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie   
   University in Nova Scotia, said this line of thinking reflects a broader   
   trend.  "We are looking at food very differently," he said.   
      
   A recent Angus Reid poll done in conjunction with Dalhousie found that as the   
   pandemic wears on, 50 per cent of respondents intend to buy more local   
   products once things are "back to normal."  The week before, that number was   
   42 per cent.   
      
   Not only that, but even the way we shop is different, particularly when it   
   comes to meal-planning. "Five weeks ago, walking into a grocery store, we were   
   looking for quick fixes," Charlebois said.  "The next day, we're looking at   
   ingredients for the next    
   couple of weeks."   
      
   While online grocery shopping — which can have a lower carbon footprint than   
   in-store shopping — was something of a novelty before the pandemic, it may   
   become normalized. As a result, local farmers are looking to get into the   
   online food delivery    
   business.   
      
   "Right now, my wife and I, we actually buy our fish and seafood from a   
   [delivery] company that didn't exist two months ago," Charlebois said.   
      
   Buying local may alleviate some concerns over large-scale meat-production   
   farms, but cost can be a holdback, regardless of the environmental benefits.   
      
   "People will want to buy local as long as it's affordable," Charlebois said.   
   "Governments and politicians and business leaders will always encourage people   
   to buy local.   But at the end of the day, the price itself really matters a   
   lot."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)