The Mercadona Crusade against Home Kitchen is working. The question is what nutritional cost we are accepting it

In the last eight months, Mercadona has won seven more tenths in market share and already reaches 27.3%. It is a real barbarity that reaffirms it in the lead and moves it away from its closest competition: Carrefour.

But the most striking is not that. The most striking thing is that, According to the dataeverything is because The crusade against the future of the kitchen at home Juan Roig is paying off. We knew that the world has been quitting for decades, what we didn’t know is that this was going to go so fast.

What we do not know, in fact, is what consequences all this has in the medium term. Are we putting the foxes to monitor the chicken coop?

A future, but now. Because, although Media Spain threw himself on Roig when he assured “in the middle of the 21st century there will be no kitchens”, the truth is that right now more than eight million Spaniards resort to the prepared dishes of the supermarket.

In fact, Statistics tell us data That, in the last decades, home cuisine had been in clear decline. Millennials “ate 30% more often in restaurants than any other generation; when they cooked, they spent less time (one hour less than the X generation) and, when they bought, they opted more by prepared meals, pasta and sweets than the rest.” They are USAs, but We can find similar trends in all western countries.

There was a small change with pandemic, but things They seem to be returning to their channel.

17 kilos per head. That is The amount of prepared dishes they consumedon average, the Spaniards in 2024. 6.6% more compared to the previous year. And in these data we do not take into account that The tendency not only “translates In a greater offer of prepared dishes, but also in a simplification of fresh products, destined to reduce the time we dedicate to the kitchen. “

The reasons are clear and understandable: According to Kantar consultancy“comfort, lack of time and the increasingly elaborate and healthy proposals by supermarkets” are the factors behind this change.

But this is true? I refer, specifically, to “healthy proposals.” And not with respect to traditional precooked dishes, which that (a priori) is evident. But, with respect to the general diet of consumers. That is: this movement is improving our diet or not?

The question is pertinent. Above all, because we have the problem of ultra -processed. It is increasingly evident (Ylgreat studies confirm this) that there is a “positive correlation between the consumption of these foods and A list of up to 32 health problems ranging from cardiovascular mortality to depression. “

We talk about an increase of about 50% in the risk of death related to cardiovascular problems, a similar increase in the risk of anxiety and “common” mental health problems, and a 12% increase in the probability of developing type 2 diabetes.

Even more The data show An increase of 21% in the risk of death for any cause and one between 40 and 66% of the risk of death by heart attack.

The invasion of the defendants. In 2010, ultraprocessed food represented 31.7% of the Spanish diet and 80.4% of all added sugars. That is, the weight of the processed food in our diet tripled between 1990 and 2010 (from 11% to 31.7%). In parallel, the weight of added sugars has gone from 8.4% of our daily energy intake at 13%.

It is a serious problem and becoming aware of it has made, as we said, the products are healthier than before. But the emergence of these pre -cooked dishes much more attractive, convenient and accessible raises doubts. Are we facing a new phase of that trend? Will our diet worse?

Answers are missing. It is soon to see how all this is affecting (and will affect) the food of citizens. Do not forget that, as we often repeat, not all processed foods They suppose a health risk. But what the historical experience tells us is that we cannot leave everything in the hands of the companies in the sector: without an ambitious regulation and a committed public opinion, the situation can become against us.

It is, it seems, the ideal moment to use this boom in favor of public health. Then it will be much more difficult.

Image | JJ Melero

In Xataka | Juan Roig believes that cooking at home has no future. There are eight million Spaniards who are already giving the right