Today, meat-free or meat-reduced diets, once the choice of a very small minority of consumers, are more commonplace owing to health awareness, economic factors and environmental trends.
Over the past few years, a growing number of consumers have either adopted a meat-free diet by becoming vegetarian or vegan, or have significantly reduced their red meat intake, turning to fish and poultry instead. More recently, people have begun reducing their red meat intake on the grounds of health, safety and sustainability and environmental issues, as well as a need to reduce food spending since the start of the global economic recession.
No meat outcome
The reduction in meat consumption is offering unprecedented opportunities for manufacturers of a variety of meat substitutes, vegetarian packaged foods, nuts and pulses as well as poultry.
A Business Monitor International report recently stated that poultry comfortably surpasses both pork and beef as SA’s most widely consumed meat. The domestic poultry processing industry is fairly concentrated with the aggregated top four firms’ market share believed to be over 70 per cent.
The market leaders are Astral and Rainbow, both of whom have a market share in excess of 25 per cent. The third and fourth placed players are, respectively, Country Bird and Sovereign Foods.
In SA, poultry is considered a cheaper alternative to red meat and an increase in production and consumption has not only been noted in SA but throughout Africa. KFC opened its first Nigerian restaurant in 2009 and has plans to open a further 20 by the end of this year and by 2014, 1200 KFCs are expected to have opened throughout Africa.
According to the Southern African Poultry Association, more chicken meat and eggs are consumed per capita than any other animal protein. To add to this, healthy eating is becoming more important for many and is starting to be encouraged by the South African government.
This includes reducing sodium intake, reducing consumption of saturated fats and sugars and increasing intake of fruit, vegetables and pulses. Poultry is considered a healthier protein option.
