The intake of processed meat products, the guidelines state, should be reduced as much as possible and that of red meat to 350 grams a week.

While the guidelines will also steer product development, service design and education in the food industry, they have not stirred up significant concerns among leading meat producers in Finland.

Anu Saranpää, the director of research and development at Atria, said to YLE on Thursday, 7 November, that it would be unfortunate if individual product categories were branded as negative as a result of the guidelines.

“Finnish consumers can put cold meats on their bread without feeling bad,” she stated.

Atria, she added, is not planning on making any immediate changes to its product offering due to the guidelines, be it by lowering the fat or salt content – unless they bring about a significant change in consumer habits.

“We recognise our responsibility toward consumers and public health and this will be taken into consideration also in product development. If consumer demand changes materially, we’ll react to that with new products,” said Saranpää.

Snellman is similarly not intent on adjusting its recipes due to the upcoming guidelines, according to CEO Markus Hellström. “We think that consumers today are very conscious about things. Everyone will weigh up these things on their own.”

The guidelines have been updated for the first time in ten years by the National Nutrition Council (VRN) based on the Nordic Nutrition Recommendations.

Natural Resources Finland (Luke) in June reported that Finns consumed an average of just under 78 kilos of meat in 2023.

The consumption of plant-based proteins, by contrast, stood at roughly one kilo per capita, an indication that, despite widespread public attention, they have yet to penetrate dietary habits broadly, YLE wrote in October.

One reason appears to be pricing.

The public broadcasting company reported that whereas meat can be priced with close to non-existent profit margins, their plant-based substitutes may be priced with profit margins as high as 40–50 per cent. While the difference can be attributed to the more widespread appeal of meat, making meat prices a way for retailers to draw in customers, it can also slow the necessary transition toward plant-based protein sources.

“Consumers moving to plant-based protein use are motivated by price, taste and health, specifically in this order. Ethicality and environmental aspects are much further down the list,” Csaba Jansik, a senior researcher at Luke, said to YLE on 8 October.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT