These foods and products are in danger of disappearing forever

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Whether it’s acai berries, chia seeds or fermented foods like kombucha and kimchi – when a new food trend emerges, the hype is real and the miracle berries or superfoods are suddenly everywhere. And let’s be honest: who hasn’t suddenly felt fitter, more alert, more capable and generally like a better person after an açai bowl or a spinach smoothie?

But while the whole world is raving about berries and seeds, some other foods are in danger of disappearing altogether. On the losing shelf are unsexy products like lard or condensed milk, from which no one expects superpowers. Consumer experts now have gloomy forecasts for these and some other forgotten products.

Supermarket: These foods are discontinued

According to a study by the market research institute GfK, some products could disappear completely from supermarket shelves in the next few years. These include: Lard, sauerkraut, canned red cabbage, condensed milk and coffee filters.

According to a study, sauerkraut is threatened with extinction in supermarkets.Image: dpa-Zentralbild / Patrick Pleul

The reasons given are changing eating habits and the fact that the generation of “reconstructionists” born before 1952 is slowly dying out. Certain foods are in danger of becoming “obsolete models of the culinary heritage of our greats,” says trade expert and study author Robert Kecskes.

The study’s authors support their assessment with figures. Animal fats such as lard, for example, are still popular among the older generation, but are rarely bought by younger people. This is because the trend towards plant-based nutrition is stronger in these generations.

At Schmalz, a full 41 percent of sales come from the rebuilding generation. More than 36 percent of customers are baby boomers (57 to 71 years old), and almost 17 percent are Generation X (42 to 56). In contrast, only 6 percent of sales come from Millennials (27 to 41) and the even younger generation of iBrains (12 to 26).

Robert Kecskes predicts that lard will continue to lose importance among young people. This is also because the share of sales of everyday goods by the younger generations – Millennials and iBrains – in 2024 was more than twice as high (29 percent) as that generated by the rebuilders (14 percent).

Veggie trend with consequences in the supermarket?

There is also a clear trend towards plant-based alternatives to milk drinks, cream products, yoghurt, quark and desserts, albeit in the other direction. People under 42 years of age account for almost half of the sales of these products, while baby boomers only account for 6 percent. The future in this product area should also look rosy.

However, things could be bleak for products such as condensed milk, coffee cream and coffee filter bags. Reconstructionists and baby boomers are each responsible for two-thirds of sales, while only about 10 percent come from millennials and iBrains.

The situation is not much better for canned sauerkraut and red cabbage. Here, only a little more than 15 percent of the revenue comes from Millennials and iBrains.

So there is only one solution for lard, condensed milk and the like: they have to become the hype product of 2025. At least with sauerkraut, the chances of this happening are not bad – after all, it is also fermented.

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