STRATEGY ▶▶▶
Chicken buyers most open to meat alternatives
Poultry farmers are facing increasing pressure from vegetarians and vegans, particularly among the health and environmentally-aware younger generation. Poultry World looks at the issues and the response of the poultry sector.
BY TONY MCDOUGAL C
onsumers from all but three countries in the world (North Korea, Vatican City and Eswatini (Swaziland)) signed up to the Veganuary movement this year. More than 400,000 people pledged to eat a purely
vegan diet during January, marking a considerable rise on figures for the previous two years (250,000 in 2019 and 170,000 in 2018). This has led supermarkets and manufactur- ers, as well as restaurants and UK pub chains to tap in to the vegan sector and the growing number of ‘flexitarians’ who still enjoy meat but want to reduce their consumption levels. Fast food chicken restaurant KFC, for example, included its first Veganuary offerings, selling one million vegan burgers globally during the same month. The UK-based Marks & Spencer retailer said its vegan chicken pieces sold at a rate of four every minute while Tesco supermarkets reported that sales of Hellmann’s vegan mayonnaise soared by nearly 400% during January 2020.
Turn to vegan Retail insight company Kantar said it was clear that UK retail- ers were prepared for an increasing number of consumers to turn to vegan foods. Co-op food retailer launched its new product line ‘Gro’, while the Asda supermarket chain promot- ed its ‘Plant Based’ foods. It reported that more than twice as many consumers bought one of its explicitly labelled plant- based products in January compared with the festivity-filled month of December 2019. But what are the reasons for people getting involved in Vega- nuary? Health was cited by nearly 42% of participants, fol- lowed by environmental concerns (28%) and ethical reasons
38 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 4, 2020
3-10 percent Paul Kelly, managing director of UK-based FarmGate Hatcher- ies, admitted that vegetarian and vegan diets were on the in- crease among the younger generation and students. But he felt that other environmental issues perhaps loomed larger. Writing to the hatchery’s poultry customers, Kelly said: “Esti- mates show that anything from 3-10 percent of the popula- tion are non-meat eaters. I do not think this will affect the top end of the market as the decision maker on Christmas lunch tends to be from the older generation. Turkey will continue to take centre stage – with a nut roast alongside.” “Plastic and non-recyclable packaging is a ‘big no’ and I believe will become a major issue very quickly,” he added. Whole birds continue to dominate Kelly Turkeys’ own sales – remaining at 72% of FarmGate sales over the past four years. FarmGate sales were up by 8.5% and online sales by 7.5%, with the move to or- dering from smart phones and tablets rising dramatically. Late orders – after 14 December – made up 12% of sales. A study commissioned by the US National Chicken Council and conducted by IRI last July found that while the future of chicken and protein was bright, companies and retailers need to keep changing in order to satisfy modern shoppers. The study, which involved 780 interviews, found that chicken checked more boxes than beef, pork and fish in terms of its taste, health, versatility, family appeal, price value, absence of antibiotics and convenience. It only lost out to plant-based foods on sustainability grounds. Chicken in the US, and in- deed most parts of the world, continues to boom. Since 1960, per capita consumption in the US has grown more than threefold to 94 lbs (42 kg) – outperforming all other major proteins, particularly pork.
(27%). Nearly half the people giving up meat and dairy in January did so because they perceive it as a healthy choice. However, the plant-based food boom is not primarily caused by a rise in the number of people following strict vegan diets – vegans still make up only 2% of the population. Instead the trend is being driven by many people making small changes and trying to eat more plant-based meals.
PHOTO: JORIS TELDERS
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