Isn’t anybody listening? The world’s food experts say it’s time to start the shift from animal to vege-table protein. Climate change is forcing us veg-ward with every passing month. But a new meat industry study says American shoppers are buying more meat than ever!
I had to to read the headline twice to be sure. But it was no mistake. A new annual study by the Food Marketing Institute confirms that Americans are not only buying more meat – they’re buying more than ever…
Overall…
It’s all right there in The Food Association’s latest Power of Meat report for 2024: “Last year proved to be a year of significant growth across the board for meat sales, as nearly all (96 percent) surveyed shoppers said they are open to spending more on meat and poultry, especially during special occa-sions and holidays.
“Growing customer interest in the meat department, primarily around time-saving meal solutions, underscores that there is plenty of potential for innovation and marketing in this area,”particularly in “value-added and deli-prepared meat and poultry,” FMI said.
Key findings
Contrary to all logic, intuition and expectations…
- Meat department sales climbed to a record $104.6 billion last year.
- Meat and poultry sales saw growth in terms of dollars, units and volume.
- An uptick in trips to the supermarket played a significant role in this growth
- More U.S. consumers purchased meat more than once a week in 2024 than the year before.
- The top meat shoppers by demographic included older consumers, higher-income shoppers, and households with children, who all index above average, according to the report.
By the numbers;
- 98.2 percent of US households polled reported buying more meat and poultry in 2024 than the year before.
- The average family spent $871 on meat and poultry last year.
- The average US grocery shopper bought meat and/or poultry 54 times last year – more than once a week, and an increase of 4 percent over 2023.
- Almost one in three (27 percent) of US consumers said they were willing to spent a bit more on meat and poultry when ‘replacing a restaurant meal’.
My take
The longer meat prices remain high, the more it seems consumers are ‘normalizing’ the situation. That is, they are changing their view of meat, accepting that higher prices are here to stay, and are adjusting their grocery shopping habits and budgets to reflect ‘the new reality’.
What I want to know is, where are they getting the cash top ‘invest’ in all that high-priced animal protein. I’ll bet they’re defying the good advice of their national healthy eating guidelines and diverting money from their produce (fresh fruits and veggies) budget to meat. They may even be cutting expenditures a little on junk and processed foods.
The latter is where the greatest amount of money is spent on food, according to other sources: almost 75 percent of the average American’s food dollars are going toward processed foods, which now make more than 76 percent of the food on their supermarket shelves.
How much longer can the ‘average’ US consumer fool themselves into thinking the traditional meat department status quo can be sustained?
~ Maggie J.