The past few years have been explosive for the entire plant-based and vegan market. Particularly so for the plant-based meat sector, which was valued at $1.06 billion USD in 2020. Most people don’t strictly follow a vegan or plant-based diet; however, nearly all consumers are at least willing to try alternative protein products. The rise in novel plant-based protein products has also coincided with the rise in consumers desiring more transparency in the products that they consume. Now, customers want to know what exactly goes in the vegan burgers they’re gobbling up.
C.O.nxt and Menu Matters recently conducted a survey to analyze consumer opinions and alternative protein trends. One of the main takeaways of this survey was that almost half, or 41.3 percent of consumers, want total ingredient transparency before committing to alternative proteins. Before replacing meat products with alternative protein products, consumer desire to know how exactly alternative products are produced and what goes in them.
Where does this skepticism arise from? Many processed alternative protein products contain ingredients like pea protein isolate or methylcellulose that are not commonplace in the average consumer’s kitchen. Many turn to plant-based or vegan food for health reasons, and it is unclear whether these ingredients are healthy or not.
Some consumers, especially older generations, have health concerns around alternative protein products. Specifically, the survey makes clear this demographic has questions about the long-term health impact concerns from these products. They also were not clear on if these products are “natural” and are actually better for the environment.
Overall, younger generations are most open to trying all different types of alternative products, including cultivated and precision fermentation products. Environmental concerns are also a motivator for trying plant-based proteins, and 91 percent of consumers reported that planned on reducing some of their consumption of animal proteins in the near future.
The Spoon recently published a piece analyzing why plant-based product sales have been taking a nose dive as of lately. This could be because consumers satiated their first-taste curiosity with plant-based products, or possibly because not enough consumers fully transitioned to a plant-based diet.
If this survey is any indication, increased ingredient and production transparency may be crucial for this category to continue to grow.
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