Identifying urban consumer behaviour in purchasing of frozen meat and meat products in Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The frozen food products, especially frozen meat products, offer enhanced palatability as compared to their homecooked counterparts, these products are available year-round regardless of the season. A representative sample of 120 meat consumersin three cities of Andhra Pradesh i.e., Vishakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati were taken for the study. Consumption pattern of majority of respondents reveals that they consume eggs daily, poultry meat once a week, mutton and sea food once in a month and never consumed beef and pork. Average monthly consumption of majority respondents reveals they consume 60-120 eggs, 3-5 kg chicken, upto 1 kg mutton and sea food, respectively.The major reasons for consumer stimuli towards purchasing of meat and meat products were meat is rich source of protein, tasty and easily available. The most considered motives by sample respondents for purchasing and consumption of meat and meat products were ‘Meat is good for healthy lifestyle’ and ‘Consumption of meat is in family/religion culture’, respectively. The major motives for frozen meat and meat products consumption were “Convenience of store and use”, “Pre prepared (readiness)” and “Time saving”, respectively. The majority of the respondents prefer 30-40 per cent frozen fish and sea food in their diet when compared to other categories of meat.