A large-scale examination into Irish eating trends, diets, grocery shopping, cooking and general attitudes towards food, highlights how health and well-being are more important than ever before in the perception of consumers.

Since 2001, Bord Bia’s PERIscope study, the largest quantitative study of its kind in Ireland, has been exploring consumer attitudes on a wide range of food related topics, including local food, the environment, and health and well-being.

Now new research from Bord Bia’s Insight Centre, The Thinking House, highlights Irish consumer attitudes across a range categories related to food – and it shows that people are becoming more health conscious.

The comprehensive study is carried out across eight countries – Ireland and the UK, four Continental European markets, along with the US and China – and involves more than 8,000 interviews.

The findings will be presented to Irish food and drink companies in a series of events later this week.

“This level of knowledge and consumer understanding allows our food and drink producers, selling at home and abroad, to make well-informed business decisions that serve customers’ needs better,” says Grace Binchy, Consumer Insight Manager, Bord Bia.

“For instance, we know that nearly 70 percent of those surveyed want help to eat well. With this in mind, manufacturers should consider how they can help people to do just that, as well as digest nutritional labeling, create convenience in their lives and address changing perceptions around sustainability.”

Health and wellbeing
Health and well-being continue to be a major trend globally and Irish people have a positive perception of their own health, with 88 percent recognizing that it’s important to eat well and acknowledging a link between diet and mental well-being.

Overall, Bord Bia found very few people follow an eating regime, with four in 10 saying they believe in eating a balanced diet.

People believe their eating habits are becoming healthier, with one-third saying they are eating healthily. Half of the people claim to be confused about what we should eat to be, while some 60 percent say nutritional claims and food labels are hard to understand.

The perception of “low fat” as a healthy choice is experiencing a decline, down from 71 percent in 2006 to 58 percent.

Sugar is also under pressure, with 59 percent checking for sugar content and this rises as 71 percent are conscious of their children’s sugar intake. Some 94 percent said that they try to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. Eighty-four percent are trying to eat high fiber foods, while 88 percent see protein as an important part of their diet.

People are trying to eat less sugar and bad fat (98 percent), salt (96 percent), soft drinks (92 percent) and bread, cereals, rice and pasta (64 percent). Meat creates divided opinion with 49 percent saying they are eating less, while 51 percent are consuming more.

The majority of parents claim that they are trying to make sure that their children have a balanced diet, however, four in ten admit it is hard to get kids to eat vegetables.

Fewer parents than ever before are concerned about childhood obesity, falling from 35 percent in 2007 to 21 percent.

Cooking confidence and eating habits
Cooking from scratch is an emerging trend which is showing growth rising from 46 percent in 2005 to 69 percent in the latest study. However, a quarter (25 percent) of men claim to be solely responsible for cooking in the home, with only three in 10 people confident that they could produce a good Sunday roast.

More people than before are tucking into breakfast with 32 percent saying they rarely have time for a proper breakfast, this is in contrast to 2005 where nearly half did not eat a proper breakfast.

Other statistics show that 24 percent of people are entertaining at home more often and 40 percent eat takeaway once a week.

Three-quarters of Irish people eat their main meal in the kitchen in comparison to 25 percent of those in the UK, who claim to eat in the living room/lounge.

Half of those people bring in their own lunch to work, with fewer people now going out for lunch.

Price, local food and convenience
The results in relation to value and price sensitivity suggest a softening of the desire to focus on price since the height of the recession. Price is back at 2005 level with 52 percent saying the first thing they look at is price (this was at 60 percent in 2015).

The importance of buying local peaked during the recession at 73 percent and now rests at 67 percent.

Checking for the country of origin (78 percent) and quality symbols (75 percent up by 20 percent since 2001) is increasingly important to us.

According to respondents, picking food that is easy to prepare (77 percent) and quick to cook (69 percent) are important considerations.

Going green
Irish people are embracing all things green and becoming more environmentally conscious, having increased to 61 percent from 56 percent in 2007.

One in two are concerned with the amount of food that is thrown away and half of Irish consumers claim to always buy brands that use environmentally sensitive packaging.