By David Llewellyn | ESPN Staff WriterThe average American eats around three pounds of meat a year.
That number can vary by state, depending on where you live, but it’s a common metric for people who are looking to cut back.
But how much meat do you really need?
That question was on my mind last week when I saw the list of the top five meats in the United States.
The list was compiled by the Meat Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works to protect meat from being mislabeled.
It’s a good starting point, said Michael Taylor, director of the Meat Center at The New York Times.
It’s a pretty basic list, he said, but the group also has an in-depth look at the meat’s nutritional profile.
This year, the list included the average daily consumption of chicken, turkey, beef, lamb and pork.
The other top-rated meats on the list were beef brisket, pork chops and lamb brisket.
The average meat consumption per day for people in the U.S. is just shy of four pounds.
For those who don’t live in a state where meat is not labeled as lean, the average is a bit higher, at 12.8 pounds.
(We asked for an explanation from the Meat institute.)
In the past decade, meat consumption has skyrocketed in the states that are now embracing lean meat labeling.
That’s partly because of the meat industry’s rapid expansion in the past two decades.
In the U, the amount of beef briskets and pork chops produced each year increased by more than 2,500% over the past four decades.
In the past 10 years, beef has grown by 1,300%.
The trend has also led to more restaurants opening.
According to a 2014 study from the Unequal Employment Opportunities Commission, restaurant employment has doubled in the last five years, to nearly 11 million jobs.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that in the next 20 years, the number of restaurant workers will reach more than 1 billion, a growth rate greater than the number born during World War II.