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DPM @ Meat Business Women October 2017

We Brits love foodie TV programmes – but does this virtual feast mean we are becoming a nation of wannabe chefs? Is there an impact on how we are choosing and preparing our meals?

DPM joined ‘Meat Business Women’ at their latest event at the historic Tallow Chandlers Hall in London to hear from research company Kantar Worldpanel about the upcoming trends in the meat industry and food in general.

Although we love watching foodie TV programmes, in reality we want food to be quick to prepare. Skills are declining and time pressures are impacting on the purchase of primary ingredients. The average evening meal takes 33 minutes to prepare.

Convenience food is a £9.3bn market. There were 54million single person meals consumed last year, 18% of these were consumed in front of the computer.

Traditional meat & two veg meals have declined by 9% over the last 3 years, but the Sunday roast is still in the Brits’ Top Ten of favourite meals, as is Shepherds’ Pie and Sausages. However consumers now want a variety of interesting and different dishes, the consumption of dishes such as stir-fry has seen a 6% increase over the same time period. Beef and chicken sales continue to do well as they are versatile and used in many ‘on trend’ dishes, but lamb and pork may continue to struggle.

When a protein such as meat is sourced from a retailer, the rest of the meal is also purchased from that retailer. Major supermarkets will increase the promotion of full recipes to encourage the purchase of all the ingredients.

Healthy eating is impacting on the market where products are seen as ‘naturally good’. Packaging that highlights a product’s healthy attributes is helping these products increase in sales.

The trend towards eating less meat is continuing and growing five times faster than the GB populations, with 41% of meat eaters claiming to be ‘flexitarian’.

Diets that emphasis the importance of protein have resulted in a rise in protein added products – an increase of 158% over the last two years.

The meat industry needs to do as much as it can- protein from meat is part of a healthy diet and customers will respond to this message.