Christmas food spending to top €490m

IRISH consumers will spend over €490 million on food shopping this holiday season, according to Bord Bia.

It highlighted the total spend on food in conjunction with a series of preparatory culinary tips for the holiday period. Teresa Brophy, Ireland Market Manager at Bord Bia, said trends show that there is a wider variety of food being consumed on the Irish table than the traditional turkey and stuffing.

In the last quarter of 2004, consumers spent 25% more on lamb and 6% more on beef compared with the last quarter of 2003.