South African consumers are slowly warming to tinned chicken.
The slow market approval is reported in the Poultry Bulletin, official journal of the SA Poultry Association (SAPA).
Tinned chicken has been popular in Europe and North America for decades, but has only recently been introduced in South Africa after the idea was proposed by former Atral CEO Chris Schutte in 2024.
Tinned chicken was launched to compete with similar-sized cans of pilchards.
Tinned chicken not only suffers the disadvantage of being a novelty, Poultry Bulletin reports, but the price differential is exacerbated by the fact that tinned pilchards are VAT-free while chicken is not.
Astral, which has taken the lead in the production of tinned chicken, expects the price differential to narrow once tinned chicken is produced at scale. And Astral has not been deterred by the slow start.
It says tinned chicken has broad appeal, and feedback from both consumers and retailers has been very encouraging.
“Consumers appreciate the convenience, long shelf life and the meaningful chicken content compared to many traditional tinned protein products in the market,” commented Astral’s Yolanda Smit.
