Fish fingers are falling out of favour with today’s shoppers, a study claimed yesterday.
Volume sales of the fishy favourite have dropped 4.6 per cent over the past year as shoppers switched to other fish products.
Market analysts Kantar Worldpanel says value sales have also fallen by 4.1 per cent to £123.6m, down £5.2m in a year.
Young’s Seafood said fewer families were buying fish fingers and they were buying less each shopping trip.
A spokeswoman: “Consumers have been switching to other frozen products such as breaded, or purchasing from the chilled category.
The Grocer magazine warned: It’s enough to send a shiver down the spine of anyone who makes a living from frozen fish.
The decline in value and volume might not seem cause for panic on its own.
“But when you consider that fish fingers are the first taste of fish for 75 per cent of Brits, the future is looking decidely bleak.
The decline is in sharp contrast to the previous two years when value and volume sales increased by more than 7 per cent.
Frozen food giant Birds Eye blamed the decline on shoppers trading down to smaller packs.
But a spokesman predicted sales would bounce back in 2014.