From Iceland — Horse Meat Still Not Really Popular Amongst Icelanders

Horse Meat Still Not Really Popular Amongst Icelanders

Published February 10, 2016

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
Alisa Kalyanova

New data from Statistics Iceland shows that horse meat remains the least popular animal flesh in the country.

According to the data, Iceland produced some 30,000 tonnes of meat in 2015, showing a slight increase from the year previous. While meat exports decreased by about 20%, imports increased by 2%.

In terms of domestic production, Iceland churned out over 10,200 tonnes of lamb, 8,300 tonnes of chicken, 6,800 tonnes of pork, 3,600 tonnes of beef, and a paltry 950 tonnes of horse meat.

Interestingly, whale meat was not included in this data, but the last figures on the subject showed that less than 3% of Icelanders reported buying whale meat six times or more over the course of the year.

All told, each Icelander ate about 84kg of meat last year. Despite lamb’s increased production, chicken remained the most popular meat in Iceland, having usurped the throne from lamb in 2014.

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