Biltong's environmental footprint is driven almost entirely by its raw material: beef. Producing one kilogram of beef generates approximately 99.5 kg of CO2 equivalent, mostly from enteric methane released during cattle digestion and from manure management. On top of that, growing and processing the feed, plus supplying drinking water, requires somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 liters of water per kilogram of beef. Before a single slab gets sliced and cured, the upstream costs are already significant.
The land-use picture is just as stark. Beef cattle ranching is responsible for roughly 80% of Amazon deforestation in Brazil, and cattle farming drives meaningful habitat conversion in Southern Africa too, which is where biltong's origins lie. Traditionally, biltong is made from beef, though some producers also use game meats like kudu, impala, or springbok. Game-sourced biltong has a different land-use profile because it draws on wild populations rather than cleared pasture, but the supply is limited and most commercial biltong you'll find today still starts with farmed beef.
If you compare biltong to plant-based protein sources, the gap is real. Per gram of protein, biltong's carbon footprint runs roughly 4 to 6 times higher than lentils or chickpeas, which come in at around 0.9 to 1.5 kg CO2e per kilogram. That's not a knock on biltong specifically. It applies to beef-based snacks broadly. The protein is coming from a ruminant animal, and that's simply a more emissions-intensive pathway than legumes.
Here's where biltong does hold a genuine advantage over other meat products. Because it's air-dried and shelf-stable, it skips cold-chain refrigeration entirely during storage and distribution. Refrigeration typically accounts for 5 to 15% of fresh meat product emissions, so cutting that out is a measurable, if partial, offset. The curing process itself, using salt, vinegar, and spices, contributes minor emissions from salt extraction and processing, but these are small compared to the livestock farming inputs.
Byproduct use adds another wrinkle worth knowing. Trim, fat, and bone from biltong production can be rendered into pet food, gelatin, or collagen, which reduces outright waste. The rendering process does require additional energy, so it's not a free environmental win, but it is better than disposal.
The real difference between a higher-impact and lower-impact biltong purchase comes down to sourcing. Grass-fed beef raised on native pasture in Southern Africa carries a different land-conversion history than feedlot beef sourced from deforested land. If where your biltong comes from matters to you, learning how biltong is traditionally made and sourced is a good starting point. You might also want to read about how biltong compares to beef jerky in both production method and nutritional profile, since the processing differences affect both the final product and the environmental math.
