Over the last two quarters, pork and beef are being chosen more often by UK people eating out, with pork constituting 16.2% of meal occasions and beef 14.2%, according to AHDB Pork, citing findings of the market research company NPD Group.

According to NPD's consumer tracking service CREST (Consumer Reports on Eating Share Trends), the out-of-home food sector saw good growth in the first quarter, its value now more than £54 billion (US$69.9 billion), or an increase of 2.9% year-on-year. Eating out is one way in which increasing numbers of consumers are saving time, particularly for breakfast and lunch occasions.

In the three months to March 6.6 billion out-of-home servings of proteins were made in the UK, an increase of 255 million servings compared with the previous period. Some 40% of out-of-home eating occasions included a protein.

According to the NPD CREST findings, as cited by the pork division of the UK Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board, proteins associated with breakfast have been an important part of the growth for total pork over the last year. Bacon servings increased by 11% to 904 million and sausages by 6% to 437 million.

A significant contributor to beef sales has been burgers, 960 million of which were sold in food service, an increase of 24 million. Both pork and beef are benefiting from the growth in popularity of quick-service restaurants, the biggest out-of-home food channel.

AHDB Pork stressed the importance of understanding food-service customers and consumer trends by those involved in the supply chain from the farm upwards.