Source: Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE, 4/6/15

The relationship that the vast majority of consumers have with fresh meat in their diets is long-standing and enduring — but the nature of that relationship is changing. The amount of meat that consumers expect to include in each meal is declining, the way that consumers cook that protein has to squeeze into less and less time each day, and the form of the products that consumers seek out in retail stores each day is shifting away from the traditional center of the plate, whole-muscle cuts that processors have relied upon for decades.

These changes are detailed for the first time in landmark new Protein and the Plate research, conducted by The NPD Group exclusively for Midan Marketing and Meatingplace. The Protein and the Plate project is sponsored solely by Yerecic Label.

In the three studies that comprise the Protein and the Plate project, the changes that are occurring within the meat-eating consumer market are detailed for the first time. The results are the subject of a three-part editorial series in Meatingplace, beginning with the April issue with a focus on the twin effects of time-pressed consumers and economically pressed budgets.

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