Over the past decade the way we view and purchase food has had many drastic changes thanks to social media and ever changing fashion trends. Since the creation of the mobile app Instagram, in 2010, taking pictures of your food and sharing this with your online community has hugely increased in popularity, with one in five of us posting a picture of our meals on some form of social media or sending our tasty images to a friend over the past month. People are beginning to become obsessed with their food and it's benefiting our farmers.
With multiple healthy eating campaigns, including our own fit for the future campaign, and health trends on the rise, we are becoming much more conscious of calories and what we put into our body. Six out of ten of us now admit to eating fresher lighter foods than we did 5 years ago as a result of this, which in turn is having a positive impact on the horticulture industry with Waitrose salad sales up by 10% and bags of organic salad up by 7% so far this year.
Trying to find a healthy and photogenic meal whilst on the go can be difficult. Busier lifestyles and constantly being on the move is meaning that many retailers are introducing or extending their ‘on the go’ ranges of food and drinks, including salads, sandwiches, snacks etc. which is proving successful with sandwich sales up 5%, and salads and pasta salads are also on the rise.
Since the horse meat scandal of 2013, the public have become much more conscious of where and how their food is sourced. Four out of five people now say they consider the sourcing of their food when purchasing a product, with only 21% of people not considering where there food is sourced. As the NFU, we want to encourage retailers to source British and take full advantage of the quality home grown products that we are able to produce in the UK. The knowledge that the public are much more aware of the products they purchase and country of origin labelling, as well as a demand for British produce, helps us to support British farmers and lobby within the retail industry.
With thanks to Waitrose Food and Drink Report 2016 for the above statistics, which can be veiwed by clicking here.