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Increasing health concerns among consumers surrounding the level of fat in their diet, together with demands for convenience in the form of “spreadability”, have fuelled the dairy and low‐fat spread markets in the UK. These sectors grew 93 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively, between 1986 and 1991, to a combined value of £135 million. Whilst sales of lard and compound cooking fats plummetted by 49 per cent over the same period, sales of vegetable and salad oils climbed by 38 per cent. Between 1986 and 1990, the total UK oils and fats market fell by 13 per cent, from 832,000 tonnes to 725,000 tonnes, as the market shifted from saturated to polyunsaturated fats, from full‐fat products to lower‐fat spreads and from animal fats to vegetable oils.