Prepared Food Oct 2016

Page 18

Are your peas

where they are

supposed to be? Andrew Key*

Which inspection technologies can be used in ready meals?

eady meals are a quickly

Recently, the category has widened to

convenience (particularly those living alone

growing category. But

include more online options. As well, we’re

or younger adults without cooking skills),

they’re not straightforward

seeing the convergence of home delivery of

while health-conscious consumers favour

to inspect.

set ingredients for people to cook set recipes

low-fat meal options available for them.

What is a ‘ready meal’?

at home — a ‘ready meal that you cook’. Lots

Historically, less affluent consumers

Principally, they are pre-

of new companies have entered this space.

have been the main consumers of ready

cooked full meals, either frozen or chilled,

However, for the purposes of this article, I’ll

meals, but Euromonitor research has

that people simply reheat at home. It’s

look at the ‘done it for you’ version.

highlighted increasing numbers of more-

a meal on the table in minutes that’s all

affluent consumers taking the ready-meal

done for you. And in the words of CSIRO

Growth upon growth

option over their former preference of

Professor Martin Cole: “Ready meals are

The past few years in particular have

eating out or getting takeaway when cook-

not 1970s TV dinners, but highly nutritious

seen the rise of ready meals in Austral-

ing is not on the menu. This has been

packages designed by chefs.”

ian households, with the category’s value

directly attributable to improved quality

Cole, director of CSIRO Flagship of

growing 8% in 2015 on top of 10% the

and attractiveness, as well as improve-

Food, Nutrition and Bioproducts, told last

year before. According to IBISWorld, the

ment in the perceived quality. IBISWorld

September’s Future of Food conference

category’s revenue now sits at $900 mil-

data also attributes “premiumisation” as

that ready meals as a business are taking

lion per annum.

boosting the popularity of high-value, pre-

off globally. “Everyone is time poor and yet everyone wants really good quality food.”

18 | PREPARED FOOD - October 2016

Several factors are driving this growth: as Cole said, time-poor consumers like the

cooked and pre-marinated meat varieties especially.

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