The bacon and lunch meat category continues to experience slow and modest 0.5% annual growth, reaching $19.8 billion in 2019. Bacon and lunch meat remain a household staple, although consumption is lower among small households, especially among women without children, seniors, and consumers aged 18-24. Amid protein-centric nutritionally focused lifestyles, premium positioning and claims are resonating, and growth in the category will stem from unconventional occasions and uses like snacking.

This Report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Bacon and Lunch Meat – US, October 2016.

For the purposes of this Report, the bacon and lunch meat market has been segmented as follows:

• refrigerated, packaged sliced lunch meat including, but not limited to: ham, turkey, salami, pastrami, bologna, chicken and corned beef.

• refrigerated lunch meat including, but not limited to: specialty salami, ham, wursts and turkey. Generally more premium specialty products available in a somewhat limited selection compared to sliced meat.

• refrigerated bacon and bacon bits.

• deli counter lunch meat sold in a supermarket’s deli department.

The following categories are excluded from this Report, except for comparison purposes:

• Any packaged, refrigerated or frozen hot dog or frankfurter (eg Oscar Mayer all-beef hot dogs).

• Any packaged, refrigerated sausage primarily marketed as an option for lunch, dinner or a snack (eg Johnsonville sweet Italian sausage, Hillshire Farm smoked Bratwurst)

• Any packaged, refrigerated or frozen sausage primarily marketed as an option for breakfast or a morning snack (eg Jimmy Dean maple pork sausage links, Johnsonville original breakfast patties)