Supermarkets not providing sustainable ready meals despite consumer demand

A survey of 1,350 ready meals from UK supermarkets showed that labelling of provenance of meat is very mixed and supermarkets are not meeting higher animal welfare standards when meat is used as an ingredient.

9 out of ten people in Britain eat ready meals yet the market is not catering for the growing numbers of customers who are cutting back on their meat consumption.

Despite the rapid growth of interest in plant-based eating, Eating Better found that meat still dominates the ready meal aisles. Meat is the main ingredient in three out of four (77%) of the 1,350 different own-brand and branded ready meals surveyed from 10 retailers (Asda, Aldi, Co-op, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose).

Overall only 3% of ready meals were plant-based choices (without meat, fish, dairy or egg) with Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s offering the largest number of choices. No plant-based options were found in Iceland and only 1 in M&S. The survey showed that retailers are selling vegetarian and vegan ranges at a premium price, making these options less accessible to all customers.

There is a huge growth of interest in flexitarian eating; Eating Better found that 44% of British people are willing or already committed to cutting down on meat or cutting it out completely. Simon Billing, executive director of Eating Better, wants ‘to see supermarkets increase their plant based and healthier vegetarian ready meal offer and also to use meat and dairy that meets higher animal welfare and environmental standards across the rest of their range.’
 

Read the full report on ready meals by Eating Better.

Sustain campaigns in many ways to improve the UK’s food landscape including the Children’s Food Campaign, the Food Power campaign and works towards a food and farming policy which benefits the environment, health, animals and farmers.