PEOPLE IN Ireland ate 160,500 tonnes of fresh meat in the year ending January 2008, almost 1 per cent more than in the previous year.
Research carried out by Taylor Nelson Sofres for the Irish Food Board valued the total Irish household fresh-meat purchases for the year at €1.21 billion.
The 6 per cent increase in the value of the purchases was driven by a 5 per cent rise in average prices of meat.
However, within the meat sectors some meats fared better than others, according to the survey published by Bord Bia.
While there was a 1 per cent increase in household purchases of fresh beef worth €439 million, household purchases of poultry fell by 4 per cent. The report said this 4 per cent fall was divided equally between chicken and turkey.
The drop in volume, which has been a European trend since the arrival of avian flu in Europe, was masked by an increase in the value of poultry meat.
Despite the 4 per cent drop in volume, there was an 8 per cent increase in the retail price, which led to total poultry expenditure actually rising by 4 per cent to €215 million.
As in other European countries, turkey purchases suffered the greatest fall as the value of turkey purchases fell by 15 per cent over the 12-month period.
The largest volume increase in consumer purchases was seen in the bacon sector, which was up by 5 per cent, or 1,000 tonnes, to 23,000 tonnes. The value of these bacon purchases recorded a rise of 8 per cent, showing Irish household expenditure in the area at €190 million.
The survey found that the volume of pork purchased for the year increased by 3 per cent to almost 19,000 tonnes, with expenditure increasing by 4 per cent to €190 million.
Overall, the survey found that penetration of the pork market increased to 83 per cent of Irish households. However, there was also an increase in the proportion of households purchasing beef. This went up by 1 per cent to just over 94 per cent.
The volume of sausages purchased over the year increased by 4 per cent.
Irish people purchased 14,000 tonnes of them, which increased in value by 9 per cent over the previous year.