A recent Food Market Institute(FMI)survey conducted in the US has found that consumers prefer to buy their meat through an in-store fresh meat department with a butcher. The finding was part of a study called, 'Consumer Attitudes and the Supermarket' and highlights consumers concerns over meat packaging and processing.
About 83 per cent of the consumers polled said they believe a fresh meat department with a butcher is 'very or somewhat important,' according to the study. Only 6 per cent of the respondents agreed that case ready, packaged meat is better than meat purchased from an in-store butcher.
The survey contacted 2,000 shoppers by phone.
The industry is moving steadily toward case-ready meats for compelling economic reasons, but recent media coverage in the US has thrown the process into disrepute. Television and press coverage has suggested that packaged, treated meat is not as safe as freshly butchered meat.