Supermarkets are using multibuy promotional deals to encourage shoppers to buy meat and processed meat, despite the products being linked to a heightened risk of cancer, research reveals.
Almost one in five (18%) of multibuy offers in major British supermarkets involve meat and dairy products, and one in ten (11%) processed meat such as ham, bacon and sausages.
Customers are being encouraged to buy such products even though the World Health Organization says that red meat probably causes cancer and that processed meat definitely does.
The Food Foundation said its findings, especially about processed meat, were alarming for environmental as well as health reasons. It accused food retailers of “actively incentivising citizens to buy more of those foods that are known to be bad for the health of people and the planet”.
The thinktank’s senior business and investor engagement manager, Rebecca Tobi, said: “We know that supermarkets routinely use buy one, get one free and price promotion deals to get us to buy more of products than we would otherwise. So the fact that many of these deals are on foods that are harming our health and our planet is alarming.”
Only 5% of multibuy offers involve fruit and vegetables.
The Food Foundation based its findings on offers made by Aldi, Asda, Iceland, Morrison’s, Sainsbury’s and Tesco in March, when the Questionmark Foundation analysed their money-saving deals.
Iceland had the most promotions on processed meat, which accounted for 15% of its multibuy deals, followed by Tesco (13%) and Asda (11%). Iceland also offered the fewest deals on fruit and veg at just 2%.
“Despite the fact we know too much processed meat comes with notable health risks, supermarket marketing and promotions are still very much geared towards meaty foods,” Tobi said.
Dr Panagiota Mitrou, the World Cancer Research Fund’s director of research, policy and innovation, said: “It’s disappointing that food retailers are using multibuy offers to make these kinds of meats a more financially attractive option to shoppers and encourage higher consumption.”
People should eat at most three portions of red meat a week – weighing about 12-18oz in cooked weight – and “little, if any, processed meat at all”, given the evidence about meat’s link with cancer, and especially processed meat’s proven role in raising the risk of bowel cancer, she said.
The British Retail Consortium did not respond to the Food Foundation’s findings, which will be set out in its forthcoming annual report. Its director of food and sustainability, Andrew Opie, said only that: “Anyone who shops in a supermarket will know how affordable retailers make fresh fruit and vegetables, whether that is through everyday low prices or promotions.
“It is the core part of their offer, and whilst they will promote products across the store, great quality, usually British, affordable fruit and veg, is always available as that is what customers demand.”
In the Netherlands all the main supermarkets have committed to 60% of their sales of protein products being plant-based by 2030, to help boost health and reduce the food sector’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.
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In the UK only Lidl and the Compass Group have set sales-based targets aimed at driving higher sales of non-meat dishes.
The Food Foundation’s research also found that most main meals sold by major restaurant chains still contained meat, despite the strong shift in recent years towards vegetarian and vegan diets.
Among the 63 high street restaurants analysed, 58% of their main meals involved meat, down from 62% in 2022, 33% were meatless and 9% involved fish.
Joe and the Juice had the highest proportion of meat-free main dishes at 69%, followed by Sainsbury’s cafes (59%) and Pizza Express (57%).
In contrast, 100% of Chicken Cottage’s main meals contained meat, as did most of those sold by Burger King (88%), KFC (87%), Gourmet Burger Kitchen (83%) and McDonald’s (81%).
UKHospitality was approached for comment.