Consumption of animal proteins is mostly remaining stable, but there is one exception.
“People are mostly eating how they have been, with the exception of chicken,” Lori Rakoczy, associate principal, Technomic, said during the Consumer Trust in the Animal Protein Industry webinar. “There seems to be an insatiable appetite for chicken, especially among Gen Z consumers.”
The webinar was hosted by the North American Meat Institute on February 29. Technomic conducts monthly studies for the institute, as well as for other entities within the food industry.
Rakoczy said a recent Tehnomic study surveyed consumers, and that survey clearly showed that chicken consumption was on an upward trajectory.
When asked how about their chicken consumption this year, when compared to the previous year, 41% said they ate more chicken. Only 7% said they ate less.
The study further revealed that those stats for increased consumption were even higher with younger consumers. Of the millennials surveyed, 53% said they are eating more chicken, as did 51% of the Generation Z survey respondents.
While that is good news for poultry producers, Rakoczy revealed even better news.
The survey revealed that 37% of survey respondents intend to eat more chicken in the coming year than they did in the previous year, while only 5% said they plan to eat less. Again, the numbers get higher with younger consumers, with 53% of the respondents representing Generation Z said they will eat more chicken in the coming year.
Turkey consumption trends
The statistics presented by Rakoczy showed that turkey consumption was generally flat during the past year. The survey showed that 63% of respondents ate about the same amount of turkey as they did during the prior year. 18% said they had more turkey this year, while 19% said they ate less.
Rakoczy cited price as a the primary motivating factor for these turkey purchase trends.
However, she indicated that things should turn around in a positive direction for the turkey sector in the coming year. The survey showed that 22% of consumers plan to eat more turkey in the coming year, whereas only 11% said they will eat less.
How beef and pork fared
The survey revealed a bit of an uptick in beef consumption over the past year, with 25% of respondents saying they ate more beef during the past year, as opposed to 19% of the respondents saying they had less. The trend should be similar in the coming year, with 24% of respondents saying they plan to increase beef consumption and 15% saying the intend to consume less.
Regarding pork, 20% of the respondents said they had more pork during the past year, while 21% said they had less. For the upcoming year, 18% said they will eat more while 17% said they would have less.
