Editing Meat (section)

== History ==

{{further|History of agriculture}}

=== Domestication ===

{{further|Domestication}}

[[Paleontology|Paleontological]] evidence suggests that meat constituted a substantial proportion of the diet of the earliest humans. Early [[hunter-gatherer]]s depended on the organized hunting of large animals such as [[bison]] and [[deer]]. Animals were [[domestication|domesticated]] in the [[Neolithic]], enabling the systematic production of meat and the [[animal husbandry|breeding]] of animals to improve meat production.{{sfn|Lawrie|Ledward|2006|pp=1–2}}

{|class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+ Major animal domestications
|-
! Animal !! [[Vavilov center|Centre of origin]] !! Purpose !! Date/years ago
|-
|[[Goat]], [[sheep]], [[pig]], [[cow]] ||Near East, South Asia ||Food ||11,000–10,000<ref name="McHugo Dover MacHugh 2019">{{Cite journal |last1=McHugo |first1=Gillian P. |last2=Dover |first2=Michael J. |last3=MacHugh |first3=David E. |date=2019-12-02 |title=Unlocking the origins and biology of domestic animals using ancient DNA and paleogenomics |journal=BMC Biology |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=98 |doi=10.1186/s12915-019-0724-7 |pmc=6889691 |pmid=31791340 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
|-
|[[Chicken]] ||East Asia ||[[Cockfighting]] ||7,000<ref name="Lawler Adler 2012">{{cite journal |last1=Lawler |first1=Andrew |last2=Adler |first2=Jerry |title=How the Chicken Conquered the World |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-chicken-conquered-the-world-87583657/ |journal=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]] |issue=June 2012 |date=June 2012}}</ref>
|-
|[[Horse]] ||Central Asia ||[[Pack animal|Draft]], [[Equestrianism|riding]] ||5,500<ref name="MacHugh Larson Orlando 2017">{{cite journal |last1=MacHugh |first1=David E. |last2=Larson |first2=Greger |last3=Orlando |first3=Ludovic |title=Taming the Past: Ancient DNA and the Study of Animal Domestication |doi=10.1146/annurev-animal-022516-022747 |journal=[[Annual Review of Animal Biosciences]] |volume=5 |date=2017 |s2cid=21991146 |pmid=27813680 |pages=329–351}}</ref>
|}

=== Intensive animal farming ===

{{further|Intensive animal farming}}

In the [[Post-war|postwar period]], governments gave farmers [[Agricultural subsidy|guaranteed prices]] to increase animal production. The effect was to raise output at the cost of increased inputs such as of animal feed and veterinary medicines, as well as of animal disease and environmental pollution.<ref>{{cite web |last=Zatta |first=Paolo |title=The History of Factory Farming |url=http://www.unsystem.org/SCN/archives/scnnews21/ch04.htm#TopOfPage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131116060714/http://www.unsystem.org/SCN/archives/scnnews21/ch04.htm |archive-date=16 November 2013 |publisher=United Nations |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1966, the United States, the United Kingdom and other industrialized nations, began factory farming of beef and dairy cattle and domestic pigs.<ref name="Danielle Nierenburg 2005"/> Intensive animal farming became globalized in the later years of the 20th century, replacing traditional stock rearing in countries around the world.<ref name="Danielle Nierenburg 2005">{{cite journal |last=Nierenburg |first=Danielle |year=2005 |title=Happier Meals: Rethinking the Global Meat Industry |journal=[[Worldwatch Institute|Worldwatch Paper]] |volume=171 |page=5 }}</ref> In 1990 intensive animal farming accounted for 30% of world meat production and by 2005, this had risen to 40%.<ref name="Danielle Nierenburg 2005"/>

=== Selective breeding ===

Modern agriculture employs techniques such as [[progeny testing]] to speed [[selective breeding]], allowing the rapid acquisition of the qualities desired by meat producers.{{sfn|Lawrie|Ledward|2006|pp=10–14}} For instance, in the wake of well-publicized health concerns associated with [[saturated fat]]s in the 1980s, the fat content of United Kingdom beef, pork and lamb fell from 20–26 percent to 4–8 percent within a few decades, due to both selective breeding for leanness and changed methods of butchery.{{sfn|Lawrie|Ledward|2006|pp=10–14}}  Methods of [[genetic engineering]] that could improve the meat-producing qualities of animals are becoming available.{{sfn|Lawrie|Ledward|2006|pp=10–14}}

Meat production continues to be shaped by the demands of customers. The trend towards selling meat in pre-packaged cuts has increased the demand for larger breeds of cattle, better suited to producing such cuts.{{sfn|Lawrie|Ledward|2006|pp=10–14}}  Animals not previously exploited for their meat are now being farmed, including mammals such as [[antelope]], zebra, [[water buffalo]] and camel,{{sfn|Lawrie|Ledward|2006|pp=10–14}}  as well as non-mammals, such as crocodile, [[emu]] and ostrich.{{sfn|Lawrie|Ledward|2006|pp=10–14}} [[Organic farming]] supports an increasing demand for meat produced to that standard.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foodnavigator.com/Market-Trends/Demand-for-organic-meat-on-the-rise-says-Soil-Association |title=Demand for organic meat on the rise, says Soil Association |date=July 28, 2016 |access-date=January 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012021608/http://www.foodnavigator.com/Market-Trends/Demand-for-organic-meat-on-the-rise-says-Soil-Association|archive-date=October 12, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=220 heights=180>
File:Lamb meat.jpg|A shoulder of [[Lamb and mutton|lamb]]
File:Hereford bull large.jpg|A [[Hereford (cattle)|Hereford]] bull, a breed of beef cattle
File:SelectionOfPackageMeats.jpg|Supermarket meat, North America
</gallery>