Milk and meat consumption and production in Chile, c. 1930-2017: A history of a successful nutrition transition
Manuel Llorca‐Jaña, Ricardo Nazer, Daniel Morales‐Campos, Juan Navarrete‐Montalvo
Abstract
This article shows how Chile experienced a profound nutrition transition within a short period of time. Before the early 1990s, the diet of most Chileans was poor in animal proteins and calcium. Today, Chileans enjoy a diet characterized by high consumption of meat and dairy products. The rapid rise in consumption of these products can be attributed to various factors: Chile belatedly joining the international agribusiness revolution; government support from the 1930s to the 1960s; increasing GDP per capita; macro-economic stability; changes in consumption habits; trade liberalization; and the fall in food prices, as both meat and milk had high income elasticity. These revolutions in both production and consumption have greatly improved the nutrition of the Chilean population and partly explain the improvement in Chile’s biological well-being.