Sales of processed meats and cold cuts declined significantly in the beginning of this year, according to Finnish food firms Atria and Snellman as well as supermarkets run by S Group and Kesko.
There was a clear sales decline when the media started reporting about Finland updating nutritional guidelines, according to Jori Kuuranne, shopkeeper of a K-Supermarket in Seinäjoki.
The Finnish Food Authority published the dietary guidelines towards the end of last year. It recommended eating no more than 350 grams of red meat (meaning beef, pork and lamb) per week, of which the proportion of processed meat should be as low as possible. Previous guidelines recommended limiting weekly meat consumption to 500 grams.
The new guidelines also recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables to 500 grams, which was an increase compared to earlier guidance.
During the period of December 2024 to January 2025, sales of cold cuts in Kesko's supermarkets decreased by around seven percent, year-on-year.
Meanwhile, fruit and veg sales increased by around eight percent, while sales of frozen meat and fish also increased by five percent during that period, according to Kesko.
Other meat products such as sausages saw sales declines of around two percent at K-branded stores.
S Group's supermarkets also saw changes in sales volumes recently, according to the company's SVP of sales, Hans Backström.
"Sales of meat products and cold cuts are currently two percent lower than last year. The timing [of the change came] the nutritional recommendations were published, but we have not separately looked into why customers made those choices," he said.
Permanent changes to consumer behaviour won't be visible until more time has passed, he noted.
Less media coverage in Sweden
Paula Virtanen, VP of consumer and market insight at food processing firm Atria Finland, acknowledged that the new nutritional guidelines may have affected sales of the company's products.
"There was a slight decrease in demand for cold cuts compared to the previous year. We believe that is partly due to the nutritional recommendations," Virtanen told Yle.
However, she said the firm anticipates that demand for processed meat could increase again, and that the effect of the recommendations will be temporary. She pointed to similar dietary guidelines that were issued in Sweden, which have had no impact on demand or sales of meat products.
Atria is scheduled to publish its next sales development report at the end of April.
According to Vilma Wiitakorpi-Björkman, communications and sustainability chief at food processing firm Snellman, the company's sales of all types of meat in both Finland and Sweden have grown this year.
"January market data suggests that consumer purchases of cold cut products have decrease somewhat in Finland," she said.
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