Horse meat: a third less likely to buy processed meat: Kantar

More than a third of shoppers are less likely to buy processed meat products after the horse meat scandal, according to a survey of 6,000 consumers by the research group GMI on behalf of Kantar.

But 36% of respondents said that the scandal would not make any difference to their shopping habits.

A quarter of respondents said that they did not buy processed meat, so would be unaffected by the scandal. Some 3% said they would buy more processed meat.

The survey also revealed that 13% of shoppers planned to buy locally-sourced meat to avoid unwanted horsemeat, while 5% said that will buy less meat.

Avoid economy ranges

About 19% of those surveyed said they would not buy from brands linked to news stories about horsemeat.

A further 15% said they would avoid economy ranges.

The poll surveyed 6,221 people across the UK and found big differences between the responses of men and women.

Some 47% of men said that the findings about horsemeat would make no difference to how they bought processed meat dishes, while 26% of women said they would continue to buy processed meat as they did before the scandal broke.