The amount of dairy and meat substitutes purchased from Australian supermarkets and other food retailers jumped another 14 per cent in 2020-21, following a 14 per cent increase between 2018-19 and 2019-20, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS health statistics spokesperson, Paul Atyeo, said “The per person apparent consumption of dairy and meat substitutes was 20 grams per day in 2020-21, up a total of 29 per cent from 15 grams per day in 2018-19.
“About 17 grams of apparent consumption per person per day came from dairy milk substitutes like soy milk or almond milk. This is equivalent to about half a metric cup per week.
“Consumption of dairy milk substitutes rose 4 grams per day between 2018-19 and 2020-21 mirroring a 4 grams per day fall in dairy milk over the same two year period.” Mr Atyeo said.
“Almond milk had a particularly rapid increase in apparent consumption, up 31 per cent in the last two years. Soy milk increased by 16 per cent over the same period.”
Of other product categories which had increases, the most significant was non-alcoholic beverages which rose 7 per cent between 2018-19 and 2020-21. The increase was driven by diet soft drinks (up 21 per cent) and packaged water (up 8 per cent per person). In contrast, sugar sweetened soft drinks have remained relatively flat, although they still make up most (61%) of the soft drink volume.
