Pasta sales go limp in Italy for health reasons
Pasta has long been at the heart of Italian cooking, but now it seems that Italian consumers are falling out of love with this traditional dish.
Pasta has long been at the heart of Italian cooking, but now it seems that Italian consumers are falling out of love with this traditional dish. New research from Mintel reveals that sales of pasta in Italy had a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -2% between 2011 and 2015, with sales falling to 908,100 tons in 2016. It appears that health is the reason this national cuisine has fallen on hard times as, today, almost one quarter (23%) of Italians say they are limiting the amount of pasta in their diet for health reasons.
While Italians still consume the biggest volume of pasta per person globally, they are cutting back on this traditional staple. Mintel research finds that retail per capita consumption of pasta in Italy fell from 17.0 kg in 2011 to 15.2 kg in 2016. It seems their tastes are also changing. In 2015, just 7% of Italians said they consumed any gluten-free pasta, while 13% ate organic pasta and 36% ate whole wheat pasta. By 2016, one in three (33%) Italians said they had eaten gluten-free pasta, while 63% had used/eaten organic pasta. Meanwhile, 75% of Italians report eating/using whole wheat or whole grain pasta in 2016, with 30% doing so once a week or more.
Although Italians are turning their backs on tagliatelle, pappardelle, and fettuccine, according to Mintel research they remain in the top three pasta eating nations. In 2016, only the Brazilians (1.22 million tons) and Russians (1.18 million tons) consumed more.
However, it’s not just in Italy that consumers are curbing their appetite for pasta. Across the globe, “carbophobia” is impacting sales. According to Mintel research, the CAGR for pasta between 2011 and 2015 was completely flat in the United States, Canada, France, and Australia, and down -2% in the United Kingdom.
Along with sales, consumption of pasta in the United States has also stalled. Average pasta consumption at retail in 2017 is forecast to reach 2.7 kg, down from 2.8 kg in 2015, while rice consumption is expected to increase to 2.5 kg in 2017 from just 2.3 kg in 2015. Health concerns are at play here, as well, as 41% of U.S. consumers perceive rice and grains to be healthier than pasta. With nearly one third (32%) of consumers, or someone in their household, eating gluten-free foods, it appears that rice is benefitting from its gluten-free status as the CAGR for rice in the United States between 2011 and 2015 was 2%, according to Mintel research.