Sustainable Protein: From Flexitarian to Vegan (Part 2)

Consumers are more conscious of the direct impact of their lifestyles on the environment

According to survey data consumers increasingly believe that their everyday actions have a direct impact on the environment. Possibly partly as a result of this, there are growing numbers of vegetarians in 30% of countries researched at Euromonitor.

Plant-based foods are seeing success at the cost of animal-derived ones

Cows’ milk and meat consumption have seen declining sales in recent years, parallel to which is growing consumption of plant-based alternatives. Strong growth for the categories such as meat and dairy milk alternatives can now be seen in several developed and developing markets.

High-protein foods remain on the rise, but their ingredients matter more than ever

As high-protein foods continue to show new product developments, more often than not these contain plant-based protein sources. Nevertheless, the use of animal-derived ingredients still dominates over plant-based alternatives, especially in staple food categories such as baked goods and cereals.

Vegan/vegetarian labelling is not keeping up with the trends

Though demand for plant-based foods is increasing, there is still a lack of labelling that indicates the adequacy of foods for vegan and vegetarian lifestyles. Much of this could be caused by discrepancies and lack of consistency in the definition and labelling of “vegan” from market to market.

Vegan/vegetarian products often come with a risk of deception

Terms such as “milk” or “sausages” are widely used among plant-based products, even when their taste or nutritional composition differs from animal-based ones. Consequently an increasing number of legislations ban the use of such terms on plant-based foods to prevent misleading the consumer.

Plant-based movement creates opportunities for partnerships

Though still a novel market, plant-based foods are seeing growing interest from consumers and food manufactures. This has resulted in new product developments and partnerships involving even traditional meat producers.