Study: Ready meal sector needs to account for concerns toward sugar intake
However, a total of 53% of consumers admit they have said they were going to cut down on sugar, but have not actually done so.
Sugar is a major topic across the globe due to the link with obesity and diabetes. This is resulting in consumers making conscious attempts to monitor their sugar intake. One way of doing this is to seek out naturally formulated products, or products associated with being free of sugar. Although consumer attitudes and behaviors may not always align, this nevertheless has implications for the chilled and frozen ready meal sector.
Currently, 39% of consumers say they are on a diet in order to lose weight, according to a survey of 25,000 consumers conducted by FMCG Gurus, UK. Of those consumers trying to lose weight, the Top 3 answers given were eat more fresh fruit and vegetables (54%), exercise more (51%) and look to reduce consumption of sugar (48%). The key finding from this is that consumers associate processed food with poor dietary habits and are trying to cut down on such products. This will be particularly true when it comes to processed food high in sugar.