HW Cooking Ingredients and Meals

Health-conscious consumers in Thailand are increasingly opting for plant-based cooking ingredients and meals, further driving the shift towards plant-based diets. Plant-based ready meals is an emerging niche in Thailand but perceived as a lighter and…

The pandemic strengthened an already growing health and wellness trend within cooking ingredients and meals in Ireland. The HFSS (High Fat, Salt and Sugar) regulations, which were unveiled in December 2021 by the Advertising Standards Authority for…

While the impact of the pandemic started to gradually wane in Canada towards the end of the review period, echoes remained in 2022. For one, wellbeing and health trends were at the forefront of consumers’ minds as they were still concerned about…

Despite Taiwan aiming to live with COVID-19 and return to normal lifestyles, confirmed COVID-19 case numbers spiked in 2022 with more than 10,000 cases per day. In line with heightened health consciousness, which has been bolstered by the experiences…

The ready meals category is not as strong in Greece as in other Western countries due to the fact that Greek households still remain fairly traditional, with families eating primarily home cooked meals instead of buying packaged ready meals. This…

Overall volume sales of low fat cooking ingredients and meals continued to increase in France in 2022. Buoyant demand reflected rising consumer awareness of the health risks associated with being overweight or obese, a well-established trend that…

Nordic rapeseed oil is benefiting from being seen as a locally sourced superfood, boosting sales of domestic cooking oils. It is noteworthy that, as the global supply of sunflower oil suffered shortages in 2022, Finns increasingly turned to locally…

The COVID-19 pandemic saw consumers place an increased focus on their overall health and wellbeing. More and more consumers looked for ways to maintain good health, as they became increasingly concerned about COVID-19 infection and their ability to…

2022 saw suppressed demand across Norway’s cooking ingredients and meals industry due to the resumption of the cross-border shopping that was extremely popular among local consumers prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. This also adversely…

Local consumers are increasingly interested in on-the-go and easy-to-make foods, while simultaneously seeking the healthiest food options.

Strong growth was observed for cooking ingredients and meals throughout the first months of 2022, with healthier variants such as no added sugar and natural growing at a very fast pace as consumers resumed their normal activities. However, sales were…

Demand for healthy cooking ingredients and ready meals is on the rise in Belgium. Indeed, the Nutri-Score given to products is becoming more important for consumers, who are increasingly buying products with better Nutri-Scores especially concerning…

During 2022, convenience and health and wellness remained two of the most important megatrends influencing demand patterns among Austrian consumers and this combination of a desire to eat healthier types of convenience food supported strong growth in…

Vegetarian, vegan and plant-based alternatives saw a boom in popularity in several packaged food categories towards the end of the review period with ready meals being no exception. There is a strong demand for healthier food alternatives in Sweden,…

Cooking ingredients and meals in Germany saw several significant developments in 2022, including a growing focus on sustainability, convenience, and health. Sustainability has become an essential factor in the German market, with many consumers…

In an inflationary environment, unevenly rising prices inevitably affected the purchasing power of many Spanish consumers in 2022, hampering the growth of certain health and wellness cooking ingredients and meals. Despite the temporary downhill…

The pandemic and economic crisis hit Brazilians hard and created polarisation in consumption habits. Those in lower- income segments were forced to trade down and reduce costs by choosing regional brands or private label options, while consumers of…

Turkey has a long history of consumers enjoying dips, although these are often either made from scratch at home, or consumed in neighbourhood restaurants. However, recently there has been an increase in the availability of packaged dips, which are…

In recent years there was a rise of adulteration practices, in terms of replacing mustard oil with poor-quality oils in multi-source edible oils, with the intent to reduce costs. It was relatively easy to mix lower-quality oils, as they would not…

Japanese consumers have relatively high interest in functional products, and generally trust the claims on the packaging and in marketing activities. With the aim of assisting consumers to make more informed choices, a system of Foods with Function…