The chart below shows purchase levels of four meats in the UK from 1974 to 2011.

The line graph illustrates how much meat (

beef

,

lamb

,

chicken

and

pork

) British people bought between 1974 and 2011. Units are measured in grams per person per day.

Overall

, the most striking feature is that over the period there was a decline in the consumption levels of all types of meat, with the exception of

chicken

.

Also

,

while

beef

was the most popular meat in 1974, it was

then

overtaken by

chicken

in 1997.

In addition

, the consumption of

pork

and

lamb

roughly halved over 35 years.

Beef

and

chicken

were purchased the most in 1974,

however

,

while

beef

stood at just under 200g, hit a peak in the 1980s and started to plummet,

chicken

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was at just over 100g and had increased to roughly 175g by 1997, overtaking

beef

the same year.

Moreover

,

while

beef

continued to drop, hit a trough in the 2000s and

had

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recovered by 2011 to amount to the level of

chicken

in 1974,

chicken

fluctuated in the 2000s and increased slightly to reverse positions with

beef

by the end of the period.

Pork

and

lamb

were consumed the least.

Nonetheless

,

lamb

stood at roughly the same level as

chicken

in 1974 and

pork

was just under 100g. Following the same pattern as

beef

,

lamb

and

pork

rose slightly in the 1980s and

then

underwent a decrease,

however

,

lamb

saw a more steep decline than

pork

, which amounted to just over 50g in 2011, and had reached just under 50g by 2011.