WEEKEND READ: Do children know what they’re eating when their parents give them bacon and eggs? According to a new study, children aged seven and younger frequently don’t understand that meat - and to a lesser extent eggs and dairy - comes from animals, yet often classify animals as “not OK to eat”. The researchers at Furman University in the US posit that children’s apparent bias in favour of plant-based foods may position them as effective “agents of environmental protection”.

The study tested nearly 200 children aged between four and seven from the south eastern part of the US on a task sorting food items according to their plant or animal origins and another on the edibility of plants and animals. At least 30 per cent of the children incorrectly sorted animal-based foods as deriving from plants. Hamburgers, hot dogs, and bacon were the most misunderstood in terms of their origin, categorised by 36-41 per cent of children as coming from plants. There were similar levels of confusion about the origins of plant-based foods, mainly French fries, almonds and popcorn. Meanwhile, the edibility test showed that the vast majority of children think chickens (66 per cent), pigs (73 per cent), and cows (76 per cent) are not OK to eat.

The consistent miscategorisation of food as being of plant or animal origin, the researchers say, is likely down to several factors. One is that they are rarely exposed to processes of food production in contexts such as farms or factories. Another is that - when it comes to animal products - parents tend to avoid talking to children about where meat comes from and how it is made. Better education about food production is important for children to be able to make informed choices about their diets as they gain more autonomy to do so and to allow them to engage effectively in any public decision-making regarding our food systems. But it all depends on what kind of food production children are shown.

A study from 2014 claimed that farm visits ‘benefit’ children in the UK, but it had several serious flaws in terms of properly teaching children about how animals are turned into food. One is that, as the author of the study noted, “Obviously, some farm activities lend themselves to farm visits more than others.” Animals are of more interest to children than vegetables but the farms visited in the study did not appear to be representative of how the majority of meat is produced in the UK. One farmer who raised chickens indoors “felt that there was less to show children, and perhaps more for the public to be critical of, and so was reluctant to show this part of his farm to school children.” The study makes no mention of children being shown how the animals they met became a product on supermarket shelves, so to what extent could such farm visits bridge the gap in their understanding of the origins of the meat on their plates?

Never miss an article

Stay up-to-date with the weekly Surge newsletter to never miss an article, media production or investigation. We respect your privacy.

Parents also tend not to be forthcoming on this subject, according to the Furman University researchers. They theorise that this is partly because parents experience their own discomfort in feeding animals to their children while they also try to instil in them the need to be kind to animals. Another reason for avoiding the topic may be that they worry the child would then refuse to eat meat if they knew it came from an animal killed for that purpose. “Rather than manage the inconvenience of cooking several meal options or confront the emotions that may come with the revelation that the bacon on their child’s plate was once a living, breathing pig,” the researchers write, “some parents instead skirt the truth altogether through vague terminology that has potentially lasting impacts on children’s eating habits.”

The fact that most of the children in the study do not think it is acceptable to eat the animals most commonly consumed in the US - pigs, chicken and cows - indicates that if they knew the truth of meat production they may be reluctant to continue eating it. This also chimes with another recent study which found that speciesism is a learned bias. Researchers from Harvard, Yale and Oxford universities asked a group of children aged five to nine and a group of adults to choose between saving humans and animals (dogs and pigs). The children were less likely than the adults to prioritise human lives over animal ones, often choosing to save multiple dogs over one human and considering the life of a dog to have as much value as the life of a human. The children valued pigs less than dogs but nonetheless, the majority still chose to save 10 pigs over one human. The majority of adults, by contrast, chose to save one human over even 100 dogs or pigs.

With animal products being the default option for most children in the west, the cultural and social pressures for children to overcome their early moral instincts are powerful and pervasive. “The current study suggests that children eat meat unknowingly,” write the Furman University researchers, “and perhaps in violation of a bias against animals as a food source.” Once they understand how meat, dairy, and eggs are really produced, the habit of consuming them may already be deeply ingrained. This is why the researchers suggest that “addressing children’s eating behaviours may offer a more effective approach” for reducing the consumption of animal products “compared to  attempts aimed at modifying adults’ well-entrenched diets.”

However, they frame this in terms of the climate crisis, arguing that children are already predisposed to environmentally-friendly behaviours and so are agents of environmental protection. Yet it isn’t clear from the study how children would make the connection between their moral resistance to eating animals and protecting the environment, particularly considering, as they note, that “environmental impacts seem to be largely absent from parents’ conversations with children about food choices.” 

While a move to a plant-based food system is crucial for addressing the climate crisis, the instincts that children have towards not eating animals and not being speciesist are worthy values to nurture in their own right.

Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.

Your support makes a huge difference to us. Supporting Surge with a monthly or one-off donation enables us to continue our work to end all animal oppression.

LATEST ARTICLES