Abstract
Cooked meats are in danger of being taken for granted. With a market value of £2.1 billion and six-monthly penetration at 85%, almost all consumers use and are familiar with them. Their main use continues to be as a sandwich filler - convenient and nutritious although lacking excitement.
The market for cooked meat has shown good growth but maintaining those growth rates will be challenging. Repositioning cooked meats will be the major theme of the future - the extent to which this repositioning is successful will determine the fortunes of the category.
The notable developments of 2007 were an outbreak of Avian flu and, despite official reassurance, consumer worries over the impact of cooked meat consumption on their health. Recent media reports also linked consumption of cooked meats with cancer.
|