2025 Midyear Trends Update
A lot of things can happen in a year. The world has seen several changes – political leadership transitions, evolving weather patterns, and continued technological advancements – particularly in AI. Looking back at Midan’s 2025 Top Trends to Watch, there have been some trends in the meat industry that are gaining momentum and will be important to keep an eye on in the months ahead. Now is an ideal time to take a step back to reflect on the first half of the year and poise ourselves for what’s to come.
The meat industry is known to stretch like a rubber band as consumer demands change and supplies ebb and flow. The midpoint of the year calls for us to re-evaluate our goals and have flexibility to plan for the future. Having an open mind and adapting to the changes before us will ultimately be the guide to success in the latter portion of 2025.
Claims-Based Meat: Using the Consumer Lens to Tell the Animal Protein Story
Allowing labels to speak for us can be a daunting task as consumer demands evolve. With six in 10 consumers agreeing they put effort into making healthy food choices and two-thirds thinking about the impact of meat and poultry production,1 it is increasingly important to understand where this desire for mindful consumption is coming from – environmental impact, nutritional benefits, animal welfare concerns?
Evidence shows a rising engagement with claims-based meat, reaching an all-time high in 2024.1 Giving the consumer peace of mind at the grocery store is important as they are showing a growing interest in products labeled as organic, grass-fed, no antibiotics, etc. to take home and prepare a nutritious meal. Using Midan’s newest research focused on health and sustainability messaging preferences by consumers, the claims made in the meat case can be tailored to fit evolving consumer demands. This research evaluates messaging and definitions for healthy, sustainable, regeneratively raised, and organic meat offerings, and provides a guide to creating and delivering messages that will resonate with a specific target consumer.
Takeaway: Telling the story of your brand or product is important to shoppers. Highlight the outcomes of your claims using supporting information to better speak the consumer language. Using Midan’s Meat Consumer Segmentation 3.0 and our new Health and Sustainability Messaging Research, messages can be crafted to be more effective to resonate with your target consumer.
The Economy: Uncertainty Pushes Eating at Home
As many consumers are keeping an eye on the news for what is to come in terms of trade and inflation, uncertainty is reflected in consumer sentiment. 2025 experienced decline after decline in how consumers view the current economic landscape as consumer sentiment fell for four straight months from the beginning of the year. However, May data revealed that sentiment held steady at 52.2, putting an end to the declining trend.2
Despite the woes of the economy, one thing is certain, and that’s the taste of meat. Consumers are proving meat as a meal staple through their purchases. A popular choice? Ground beef. Ground beef had an outstanding year in 2024, with sales outperforming the total meat department and beef category.1 The standout performance of meat grinds can be attributed to their affordability and versatility during a time of low morale with regard to the economy. Innovation in grinds is of interest among shoppers as the 2025 Power of Meat Report found 92% of consumers are interested in ‘switch it up’ recipes that use new ways to cook with basics like ground beef. This interest boasts an opportunity to attract consumers with a familiar favorite.
On the flip side of the same coin, 94% of consumers report they are willing to splurge on an indulgent cut when re-creating restaurant-style meals on their own.1 With more people eating at home, it’s more important than ever to offer a variety of meat options to suit every need and budget.
Takeaway: With ongoing changes in trade policies and looming inflation news, tailor the meat case to the consumers’ needs for eating at home during this time of economic uncertainty. Promote affordable and versatile meat options, like grinds, in a way that encourages consumers to ‘switch it up’ and implement new ways to cook with the basics. For special occasions and holidays, provide recipes and preparation tips with more involved cuts to nudge consumers into splurging on premium cuts of meat.
Retail Shopping Continues to Evolve: Claiming Meat’s Spot in the Digital Shopping Cart
Shoppers are determined to find ways to make their experience as convenient as possible and their evolving retail channel choices reflect this. Six in 10 households participated in online grocery shopping in 2024, and 51% of those shoppers reported ordering meat online with some regularity.1 As online shopping grows, the meat department must keep up to not lose traction in this space.
Online shoppers tend to focus on nutrition, claims-based and branded meat and also have high concern over animal welfare and the planet when it comes to their meat purchases.1 Using powerful descriptors highlighting consumer priorities like nutritional benefits, flavor, and production claims in product descriptions can give consumers a sense of what they are putting into their shopping cart without ever seeing the package in person.
Takeaway: Re-create the trust of the meat department through robust online descriptions highlighting flavor, nutrition information, and quality. Recipes or cooking tips can also be added to provide an extra note of convenience. Forming an online relationship and maintaining a strong reputation with online shoppers can help drive meat sales as e-commerce grocery shopping becomes more popular, especially within the protein category.
As the meat industry looks forward to what more will happen this year, these trends will continue to hold water along with others like consumer health priorities, artificial intelligence in digital marketing, social commerce, and more. To stay on top of your marketing goals and what direction the industry is moving toward next, subscribe to our industry email for more insights from the Midan team.
Sources:
1Anne-Marie Roerink, Principal, 210 Analytics LLC, The Power of Meat 2025, Report sponsored by Sealed Air Food Care Division/Cryovac®
2University of Michigan, Survey of Consumers, May 2025