Annual Meat Conference report: Power of Meat report identifies a changing of the guard

During the Power of Meat presentation at the 2026 Annual Meat Conference, recalibration was a theme for many of today’s retail meat customers as inflation has many forced to stretch their dollar to put meat and poultry on the family’s plate.

Anne-Marie Roerink, principal of 210 Analytics, presented the findings of the annual study which was released on March 2 at the event hosted by the Meat Institute and FMI — The Food Industry Association.

“More than anything, we are not seeing people walk away from the meat department, but we are seeing recalibration of spending through money-saving efforts,” she said.

However, even with shoppers watching where and when to buy, it was another strong year for meat, with 2025 sales increasing 6.8% to a record $111.9 billion.

Details from the study showed demand for fresh meat remained high at $79.5 billion, up 9.1% from 2024. Sales by category included beef ($45 billion), chicken ($20.7 billion), and pork ($8.7 billion).

In the processed meat category, sales totaled $32.4 billion, up 1.4% from 2024, while volume decreased to 6.4 billion lbs, down 0.5%. According to Circana data, Bacon led processed meat sales at $7.1 billion, up 2.8%, while volume was down 0.3%. Lunch meat underperformed with $6.9 billion, which is a 1.6% decrease from the previous year. Dinner sausage stood at $5.9 billion up 3.6% from the previous year and breakfast sausage sales were $2.5 billion, up 4.0% from 2024.

Ground power

Roerink said grinds continued to be a huge part of the meat story, with not just ground beef, but also including ground chicken, ground pork and ground lamb contributing to the category’s growth.

Another key finding in the study was that millennials and Gen Z accounted for 67% of the unit growth for 2025.

Roerink alerted attendees to a looming “changing of the guard,” with millennials poised to take over the majority of share of spending from Boomers within the next two years. Part of that change included evidence that a leading source of meal inspiration for younger consumers are based on social media and online trends.

“The younger you go, the more the inspiration tends to come from those digital sources,” Roerink said.