The latest consumer tracker results from AHDB reveal a positive shift in perception concerning pork, although it is not all good news for the sector.
“The results show a 4-5% increase in the amount of people who think pork is easy to cook and suitable for any day of the week, compared to the last survey,” said AHDB’s consumer insight analyst, Katherine Jack.
On a less upbeat note, however, she also revealed that consumers are much less likely to agree that beef, lamb or pork is “good for you” compared to fish and poultry, partly due to negative media coverage which “can influence” consumers’ perceptions.
“Consumer awareness of red meat coverage peaked at 31% in January 2016 following a World Health Organisation (WHO) report published in October 2015, which generated significant negative publicity for red meat,” said Ms Jack.
“This was double the 15% awareness in the previous wave, but still fell short of April 2013, when awareness was at 50% following Horsegate.”
After both these “highs” of consumer awareness, perceptions of primary cuts of beef, lamb and pork returned to pre-report levels relatively quickly once the negative headlines stopped. This wasn’t the case with sausages, however, a product group in which some negative connotations have “lingered”.