A total of approximately 6.5 million Canadians (20 percent of the population) are actively reducing, or completely eliminating, their consumption of meat, according to a study conducted by Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph. The researchers were interested in discovering how Canadians were responding to the 2019 Canada Food Guide—which de-emphasizes the consumption of meat and dairy, instead recommending that Canadians focus on plant-based sources of protein. The researchers uncovered that 1.3 million people in Canada now identify as vegetarian and 466,000 as vegan, both representing the highest numbers in those categories recorded in Canada. The majority of the vegetarian population is male while the majority of the vegan population is female and the bulk of each category is comprised of people under the age of 39. In February, several regions in Canada reported tofu shortages as a result of the new Food Guide.

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