Roasts have been in steady decline since March, with 157 million fewer roasts eaten across the UK compared with last year.

While those who consume roasts are not significantly altering their frequency of consumption, 2.8% fewer households have roast dinners. The retired, as well as young families, are driving the decline of roasts. 

The major contributor to roasts' decline are fewer weekday occasions.

Chicken and pork are contributing most to the decline, with occasions down 8% and 6%, respectively. However at 512 million occasions, chicken still remains the nation's most popular roast.

Red meats beef and lamb are the only protein types to see any positive demographic growth.

Turkey also saw a 27% drop in occasions. Christmas is essential for turkey, accounting for half of all roast turkey occasions, but here occasions fell by 19%. 

Roasts in general were less popular last Christmas (-11%), though this was impacted by Christmas Day 2016 falling on a Sunday, and roughly equated to the loss of one Sunday's worth of roasts.

Only 25% of roasts are chosen for health, but the vast majority of all occasions will feature vegetables, the most popular being potatoes (79%) and carrots (66%). These two vegetables are growing in popularity on the roast plate, as well as classic favourites peas and parsnips , showing that when reaching for a roast, consumers want traditional accompaniments.

Due to the large decline, roasts fall into sixth position within the top UK meals, overtaken by soup.