- A. There is an urgent need for a public policy to promote the consumption of cereal-based foods in wealthier societies.
- B. Animal-based food is far less efficient than grain/plant-based food in terms of production and utilization.
- C. Plant-based protein should replace the animal-based protein in our daily diets.
- D. Inequality in food production and consumption is inevitable in any fast chancing society.
Answer: B
Explanation
The passage’s core argument revolves around the inefficiency of converting plant-based foods into animal products. It explicitly states that “Only 16% of the calories fed to chickens are recovered by us” and that this rate is even lower for large animals. This highlights the significant calorie loss in animal-based food production compared to direct plant consumption. Option (a) suggests a policy recommendation, which is an inference, not the crux. Option (c) is a prescriptive statement, going beyond the descriptive nature of the passage’s main point. Option (d) mentions inequality but the central focus is on the inefficiency of food conversion, not the inevitability of inequality. This question tests the ability to identify the central theme of a given text, a crucial skill for CSAT Paper II.