A 2003 study published by the United States Department of Agriculture revealed that many who were identified themselves as vegetarians on a telephone survey, would admit to eating meat when contacted a week later.
The USDA contacted 13,313 people in the Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals. People were asked if they consider themselves a vegetarian.
According to the study, 334 people identified themselves as vegetarians when contacted initially. And 214 of those respondents said they ate some meat when contacted again.