Consumers in the UK are buying more full-fat milk and butter – leaving skimmed milk and low-calorie spreads on the shelf – in a bid to avoid processed food, according to retailers quoted in a report by The Guardian.
At the time of the 1 February report, searches for the terms ‘full-fat milk’ and ‘full-fat yoghurt’ had surged on Waitrose’s website, up 417% and 233% respectively, while ‘block butter’ had increased by 280%.
Supermarket sales of whole milk increased by 1.2% in 2024 compared to the previous year, while demand for semi-skimmed and skimmed milk dropped by 2.4% and 0.7% respectively, according to data firm Kantar.
In 2024, semi-skimmed milk was still the biggest seller by a wide margin, with 3bn litres sold in supermarkets, while 1.3bn litres of full-fat milk were sold.
“We’re seeing a long-term trend of ‘low fat’ losing interest as a health focus,” Kiti Soininen, category director for UK food and drink research at Mintel, was quoted as saying.
In 2018, 32% of people put ‘low-fat’ in the top three things they looked for in healthy food but, by last year, that had fallen, Soininen said. At the end of last year, the top three factors were ‘low sugar content’ (31%), ‘contributes to five-a-day’ (24%) and ‘low fat’ (24%).
Consumers’ changing attitudes to fat were being driven by concerns over ultra-processed food (UPF) while recent research studies had suggested the link between saturated fat and heart disease was not as strong as once thought, The Guardian wrote.
“It’s now understood that fats from whole foods, when consumed in moderation as part of a balanced diet, are not as harmful as previously believed, and actually have some health benefits,” nutritionist Alexa Mullane was quoted as saying.
In Waitrose, full-fat dairy products sales exceeded low-fat substitutes, the report said.
The supermarket chain said this was due to concerns about UPFs, with its customers turning away from low-fat, highly processed products in favour of less processed, whole-food ingredients.
“The growing awareness of ultra-processed food in our diets has seen many customers seeking the basics and embracing a much simpler approach to their diet,” Waitrose’s director of own brand Maddy Wilson was quoted as saying.
