Plant-based ingredients Report 2021

Plant-based ingredients report 2021

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Contents Opportunities and hurdles in plant-based . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Plant-based per product category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Plant-based meat alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Fish and seafood alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Dairy alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Cheese alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Egg replacers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Plant-based beyond proteins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Plant-based embraces low-carb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 ‘Plant-forward’ product development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Plant-based ingredients to watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Fava bean protein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Jackfruit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Fungal mycelium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Industry focus points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Spotlight on plant-meat blends: A mixed success? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 How fermentation will change the plant-based category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Traditional fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Biomass fermentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Precision fermentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Mainstreaming demand: Leverage local, traditional, and authentic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

What will shape the plant-based category moving forward? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Sustainable sourcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Cleaner labels: ‘Purity versus processed’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Key takeaways . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5

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Plant-Based Ingredients in the Spotlight 13-17 September 2021

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Opportunities and hurdles in plant-based Plant-based products have exploded in popularity in recent years. In the US, sales of plant-based food and drink are outpacing overall food growth fivefold and SPINS retail data from March 2020 shows that grocery sales of plant-based foods that directly replace animal products have grown 29% in the past two years to reach $5 billion.1 In Europe, the plant-based alternative market is predicted to be worth €7.5 billion by 2025, compared to €4.4 billion in 2019.2 Despite its current ‘on-trend’ status, the plant-based sector must overcome some significant hurdles before it becomes truly mainstream. Mintel warns that many brands are at risk of failing to transform one-off, novelty-driven purchases into repeat purchases. While 73% of French consumers enjoy experimenting with new meat substitutes, few of them buy meat substitutes regularly.3 To change this, brands should look to develop a wider range of products that target different eating occasions and use ingredients or processes that deliver new sensory experiences.

The emergence of plant-based private label ranges, even from hard discounters such as Lidl, highlights the democratisation of the plant-based category. However, affordability remains a major issue for many grocery shoppers; meat alternatives can cost twice as much as meat while plant-based milk is between two and four times the price of dairy milk.4 For flexitarian eaters who are not staunchly opposed to eating meat or dairy, this price difference is significant.

Despite the hurdles, opportunities within the plant-based sector are bright. Sales are being driven by concerns for environmental sustainability and climate change – both long-term global challenges – and younger consumers put greater importance on making purchasing decisions informed by environmental concerns than older generations.5 A number of sub-category white spaces, such as cheese and seafood, mean product developers have ample space to innovate, and improvements in taste, texture and appearance in all sub-categories will likely win over greater numbers of flexitarian eaters in the future.

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Plant-based per product category Plant-based meat alternatives Although plant-based meat alternatives have improved greatly in recent years, food developers still face three main challenges. Firstly, plant proteins have lower structuring properties than fibrous animal protein; secondly, the flavour of some plant proteins can be perceived as off-notes; and thirdly, plant-based meat alternatives lack the juiciness of meat.6 Manufacturers have traditionally favoured texturized vegetable protein (TVP), produced via extrusion, for meat analogues. This protein base is mixed with binders, such as egg white protein in vegetarian products and methylcellulose in vegan products, to recreate formed meat products like sausages and burger patties.

Using a variety of plant proteins can result in more meat-like textures. A mix of soy protein and wheat gluten, for instance, may result in a more fibrous structure than soy protein alone7. The latest version of the Impossible Burger blends soy and potato protein for improved texture and chew.8 The ‘holy grail’ of plant-based meat analogues, however, is a whole-cut of meat such as steak, and novel processing technologies are paving the way for such products. Couette (shear) cell technology, developed by researchers at Wageningen University and commercialised by its spin-off Rival Foods, can produce large pieces of fibrous meat analogues with different textures depending on ingredient, temperature, and pressure inputs.9 High-moisture twin-screw extrusion processes are tipped to be a game-changer in delivering whole muscle products, particularly for chicken and fish analogues,10 while some companies are using 3D printing to create complex, layered textures. Austrian start-up Legendary Vish, Spain’s NOVAMEAT, and Israel’s Redefine Meat are active in the 3D printing space. Other companies are taking a single-ingredient and minimal processing approach by fermenting mycelium, the root-like structure of fungi, as a wholefood meat analogue (see spotlight on Fermentation on p.11 for more).

Strides are also being made to replicate the functionality and taste of animal fat, which provides a mouthcoating juiciness and richness in meat. Animal fat is difficult to create using plant-based oils because of different melting points; animal fat is solid at room temperature but many vegetable oils are not. Some companies opt for fat blends - the latest version of Beyond Burger’s patty uses a mix of coconut oil and cocoa butter – while encapsulating fat is another solution to prevent fat from melting before it is desirable.11 Scientists are also looking into the potential of quillaja, a botanical extract with natural emulsifying and foaming properties, which could be used to create nano-scale oleogels.12 US company Motif FoodWorks is developing novel processing techniques to create animal-free emulsions that it says display the physical properties of animalbased fat at room temperature and allow manufacturers to recreate the marbled structure of fat in muscle.13

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Fish and seafood alternatives By 2030, global demand for seafood is projected to be 30% higher than 2010 levels. Increases in aquaculture production and wild caught fish will not be sufficient to meet this demand, however, and so plant-based fish and seafood alternatives could offer a sustainable solution to meet this demand.14 So far, product development of plant-based fish and seafood has lagged behind beef, chicken and pork alternatives, accounting for just $9.5 million (1%) of total plant-based meat dollar sales. This indicates plenty of opportunity for both new and established brands.15 The current seafood alternative landscape is made up of three product types: 1) plant-based offerings from companies like New Wave Foods, which uses soy, pea, and algae to make vegan prawns, or Ocean Hugger Foods, which uses whole vegetables such as tomato to replicate sushi tuna; 2) fermented products, such as Quorn’s mycoprotein-based fish fingers; and 3) cell-cultured products from companies such as Cultured Decadence and Finless Foods, none of which are currently commercially available.

Given that many people choose fish over meat for health reasons, plant-based brands should be mindful of the nutritional profile of their products. Good Catch, for instance, uses a blend of six legumes for an optimal amino acid composition and adds DHA-rich algae oil extracted from seaweed for both its distinct seafood flavour and omega-3 fatty acid content.

In 2020, the World Sustainability Organization (WSO) announced a certification programme for plant-based seafood products through its Friend of the Sea initiative, allowing vegan foods to position themselves as sustainable seafood.16 Certified front-of-pack labels such as this could reinforce the eco-friendliness of seafood alternatives and drive further consumer interest.

Dairy alternatives The popularity of plant-based alternatives to dairy milk has surged in recent years, to the extent that analysts now refer to the ‘post-dairy era’ and describe the traditional dairy industry as being ‘under siege’.17 Soy milk was once found only in health food shops; today, supermarket shelves around the world are filled with an ever-expanding selection of alternatives made with soy, almond, oat, cashew, rice, quinoa, coconut, pea, and more.

On an indexed basis, global dairy alternative drinks rose 60% and spoonable, non-dairy yoghurts doubled between 2015 and 2019, according to Innova.18 Ensuring that plant-based alternatives are nutritionally equivalent could be an important consideration for brands. In 2015, dairy products and ingredients accounted for around 20% of the average US individual’s protein intake.19 Consumers who shift entirely from dairy to plant-based alternatives on a like-for-like basis could therefore be at risk of protein deficiency.

Only soy and pea come close to the protein content of cow’s milk but soy is increasingly shunned by consumers due to association with environmental problems, while pea can have unpleasant flavour notes that require masking.20 Many plant-based brands will need to fortify their products to enable a protein health claim.

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An alternative strategy is to communicate about the chosen ingredient’s other nutritional benefits.21 Oats may be low in protein, for instance, but they can provide a source of whole grains, beta-glucans, and fibre. Given that most people in developed countries are deficient in whole grains and fibre22, oat milk can deliver its own health benefit even though it is not nutritionally identical to cow’s milk. Blending can also offer solutions and Mexican brand Heartbest blends pea with lysine-containing amaranth in its plant milk to make the pea protein more easily digestible.

Adding probiotic cultures is another way that dairy alternatives are improving the nutritional quality of their products, and is an increasingly popular strategy in spoonable and drinking yoghurt alternatives. Probiotics may help with protein digestibility and absorption,23 and Innova has identified the combination of plant proteins and probiotic cultures as ‘an ingredient synergy trend’.24 US brand Nancy’s oat milk-based yoghurt alternative contains four strains of live probiotics as well as the cultures commonly found in most yoghurts, S. Thermophilus and L. Bulgaricus, that create a creamy texture without the use of hydrocolloids.

Cheese alternatives Non-profit organisation ProVeg has identified plant-based cheese as one of the biggest ‘missing categories’ on European supermarket shelves – and therefore a potentially lucrative opportunity for product developers.25 While plant-based milks have become commonplace, plant-based cheese has so far failed to become a shopping basket staple of flexitarian eaters, something that is commonly attributed to failings in taste and texture.

Naturally colourful botanicals, such as annatto, curcumin or spirulina, can help brands recreate the appearance of a cheddar or stilton, but matching the taste and texture of dairy cheese remains challenging. Almost half (49%) of consumers surveyed by Mintel say it is difficult to find cheese alternatives with good texture.26 Canadian researchers have identified zein, a protein found in maize and a common by-product of corn starch and corn syrup production, as effective in increasing the meltability and stretchability of plantbased cheese.27 However, clean label concerns over additives could also grow. The average plant-based cheese has 11 ingredients compared to just four in a traditional dairy cheese,28 and many vegan cheese alternatives use coconut oil as a base, adding modified starches, gums and other texturizing agents. The final product therefore tends to be high in saturated fat, low in protein and have a long ingredient list, which can be offputting for consumers.

Many artisanal brands make cheese alternatives from fermented cashew and almond milk while US brand Grounded Foods uses cauliflower and hemp for its camembert-style cheese. If next generation cheese alternatives can recreate the sensory experience of dairy cheese with clean label ingredient lists, they could be well placed to take a bite out of dairy cheese sales.

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Egg replacers Egg substitutes have low penetration rates and only 11% of people who are actively trying to reduce their consumption of animal-based foods have recently purchased plant-based eggs. ProVeg conducted a 6,000-strong European survey and noted strong potential demand, particularly in Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands.29 In the US, the plant-based egg category is already worth $10 million, with dollar sales growing 228% between 2017 and 2019.30 As in the meat and dairy sectors, egg manufacturers are acting to protect themselves against a potential drop in sales of hen eggs by launching their own vegan versions. Grupo Mantiqueira, one of Brazil’s biggest egg producers, developed a vegan egg substitute made from pea protein that can replace eggs in bakery and cooking applications, and is working on a standalone replacement.31 Aside from being able to make an on-pack plant-based claim, packaged food manufacturers have their own reasons for wanting to use egg alternatives. Liquid and shell eggs are fragile, perishable, prone to volatile price fluctuations, and require segregated production lines as they are an allergen.

However, eggs as an ingredient provide a myriad of functions ranging from foam stabilisation, emulsification, coagulation, gelation, binding, thickening to crystallisation control – and replacing them is challenging. Eggs also boost the protein content, add flavour, improve the appearance of baked goods, and are clean label and natural.32 While no company has managed to develop a like-for-like replacement, a number of B2B products that perform some of these functionalities exist. Yumgo and Algama use potato protein and algae, respectively,33 while Renmatix uses cellulose obtained from agricultural residual waste via a process of supercritical hydrolysis.34 Consumer-facing brand Just uses mung bean protein isolate in Just Egg, while Follow Your Heart’s VeganEgg is made with soymilk powder.

Identifying plant protein isolates that perform important functionalities such as coagulation could be the key to developing next-generation egg substitutes. One such protein, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylaseoxygenase (known as RuBisCo), is promising because it produces protein gels with similar properties to egg white gels and is found in almost all plants and green algae.35

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Plant-based beyond proteins Plant-based embraces low-carb Many people are interested in reducing their carbohydrate intake or switching from ‘bad carbs’ such as sugar and refined white flour, to ‘good carbs’ like fibre-rich whole grains, pulses and vegetables.36 This trend has seen the rise of products like cauliflower-crust pizza, courgette pasta, and cauliflower rice.

However, completely cutting out staples such as wheat and rice is a challenge for many people and there is demand for ‘middle-ground’ products that are lower in carbohydrates and high in fibre with a plantbased halo thanks to the addition of nuts, ancient grains and seeds.37 Finnish bakery manufacturer Fazer launched a root bread where one third of the flour comes from vegetables and pulses, including parsnip, white bean and sweet potato, while UK bakery Hovis launched a low-carb seeded bread with linseed, millet, poppy, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds. Warburtons’ protein bread adds an 11% blend of bean flour, pea protein, pea fibre and chickpea flour.

Cooked porridge bread could be a ‘good carb’ innovation to look out for, Mintel notes. Although oats are high in carbohydrates, cooked porridge oats contain fully gelled starch that releases bound moisture into the bread during the baking process, thus adding gut health benefits as well as lowering the gluten content and increasing fibre.38 German brand Lieblings and Sweden’s Pågen bakery both make porridge oat bread.

The continued popularity of the ketogenic diet is also driving low-carb NPD. A ketogenic diet consists of a high level of fat intake (55 – 60%), moderate protein intake (30 – 35%), and a low carbohydrate intake (5 – 10%), and is generally typified by a high meat and low vegetable consumption.39 However, US retailer Kroger predicts the ‘ketotarian’ diet, a plant-based spin on strict keto guidelines, will grow in popularity throughout 2021 as many people on the diet are also interested in eating plant-based foods.40 This should continue to fuel low-carb, high-protein and high fibre product development.

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‘Plant-forward’ product development In the UK, only 28% of adults eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, falling to just 18% for children up to 15 years old.41 Despite the popularity of plant-based foods among Millennial and Generation Z consumers, these population groups are often deficient in vegetable and fibre intake.

Mintel has identified an opportunity for brands to create plant-based foods made with vegetables,42 and a growing number of packaged food companies are stepping up to fill the gap between ‘plant-based’ and ‘vegetable-rich’ by using whole vegetables and fruit pieces, pulses, and other unprocessed plant ingredients in their products.43 Canadian brand Wholly Veggie makes comfort food favourites such as cauliflower floret Buffalo ‘wings’ and convenient vegetable-packed patties that can be heated in the toaster. Irish company Strong Roots’ portfolio includes broccoli & purple carrot bites, cauliflower hash browns, and pumpkin & spinach burger patties.

With many consumers embracing (or even discovering for the first time) home cooking during global COVID-19 lockdowns, there could be an opportunity for ready-to-use, whole food vegetable mixes for meal preparation. US brand Tattooed Chef, for instance, offers bags of pre-washed, -cut, and -seasoned mixed frozen vegetables, removing the hassle of preparing vegetables but still allowing people the experience of scratch cooking.

Plant-based ingredients to watch Fava bean protein Between 2017 and 2019, Innova tracked a 439% increase in global product launches using fava beans in meat and dairy alternatives.44 In addition to adding protein, fava beans can improve the texture of products thanks to legumin, a specific globulin protein they contain that creates a firmer, springier, and more cohesive curd texture than lentil or pea. (Legumin is also present in soy).45 Fava bean isolate also has higher water and oil absorption capacities and better gelling properties than soy and pea.46 Brands are embracing fava beans in dairy, snacks and meat. Healthy indulgent ice cream brand Halo Top recently swapped brown rice protein for fava protein because it creates a creamier texture while US startup NutteeBean sells roasted fava beans as a high-protein snack.

According to Mintel, around 80% of meat substitutes using fava bean are blended pea protein47; one example is Finnish brand Beanit’s pea and fava mince, which launched in the UK in 2020.

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Jackfruit Jackfruit is well-positioned to meet demand for natural and unprocessed meat substitutes. The young fruit is high in starch - not sugar - with a neutral taste and chewy, meaty texture that is both fibrous and tender.

It requires minimal processing, making it an attractive wholefood option for people wishing to reduce their consumption of ‘ultra-processed’ foods, and is particularly suitable in applications such as pulled pork or shredded meat.48 The Jackfruit Company in the US, Australia’s Tender Table and Singaporean start-up Karana use the fruit in their products while retailers, such as Trader Joe’s in the US and Tesco in the UK, add it to private label ranges.

Mintel has identified untapped potential for jackfruit in packaged foods in South and South-East Asia in particular, where the tropical fruit is common but rarely used as a meat substitute in ready meals.49

Fungal mycelium Mushrooms are not technically plants; they are part of the fungi kingdom. However, mycelium, the root-like filamentous fungi network of some mushrooms, is a promising ingredient within the plantbased meat space.

The concept is not new - Quorn has been producing meat alternatives from fermented Fusarium venenatum for decades – but the ingredient is attracting attention as new players enter the fray.

New York-based Atlast Foods uses a solid-state biomass fermentation process to produce whole slabs of fibrous fungi that it then slices into bacon-style rashers. Its final product contains just six ingredients – mycelium, coconut oil, cane sugar, salt, smoke flavouring, and beet juice – and the fact that the main ingredient is a whole food is a major selling point for the brand.

Colorado-headquartered Meati Foods uses submerged biomass fermentation to produce mycelium in less than 18 hours. Its first product, a chicken alternative, has a similarly clean and clear ingredient list (water, mycelium, natural flavour, onion powder, and garlic powder) and one 85g serving provides 32% of the recommended daily intake of protein and 21% of fibre.

Manufacturers who use the mycelium from a species whose fruiting body is an edible mushroom and is known to consumers, such as shiitake, may be able to label the ingredient as the more label-friendly ‘mushroom protein’ as opposed to ‘fungal mycelium’, notes GFI – although national regulatory authorities will likely have the final say.50

insights.figlobal.com

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Industry focus points Spotlight on plant-meat blends: A mixed success?

With consumer surveys showing that plant-based sales are being driven primarily by flexitarian eaters, product marketers have identified hybrid meat and plant blends as potential successes. These products have the advantage of living up to meat-reducers’ sensory expectations while answering their health and environmental concerns.

US meat processor Perdue Farms makes Chicken Plus – chicken nuggets with added cauliflower and plant protein – and markets the product as an easy way to get children to eat vegetables. Hormel introduced a blended burger under its Applegate brand while meat giant Tyson launched The Blend, a burger made with Angus beef and pea protein isolate.

However, Tyson recently announced plans to discontinue The Blend and remove egg white from the entire Raised & Rooted range to make it vegan, suggesting hybrids may not be as lucrative as thought.51 Product developers should conduct extensive market research on their target consumer before launching meatplant bends.

How fermentation will change the plant-based category There are three types of fermentation processes, all of which are of great interest to plant-based players: traditional, biomass, and precision.52

Traditional fermentation This involves using live microorganisms to process ingredients, resulting in a final product with a different flavour, texture, and nutritional profile. A classic example of traditional fermentation is using lactic acid bacteria to ferment milk to make cheese and yoghurt.

Traditional fermentation can also be used to make plant-based proteins. Tempeh is an Indonesian food made by fermenting soy with the Rhizopus fungus. UK company Better Nature makes several tempeh varieties including with fermented lupin while Brazilian start-up Mun makes chickpea, black-eyed peas, and red quinoa tempeh. Another company harnessing traditional fermentation techniques for meat alternatives is US company Prime Roots, which uses Aspergillus oryzae, also known as Japanese koji.

Biomass fermentation Many fungal, bacterial, and algal species have a high protein content of over 50% by dry weight and can be produced using inexpensive and prolific feedstocks.53 In biomass fermentation, the biomass itself is the ingredient. These cells can be kept intact or minimally processed. In some cases, breaking down the cells to create a flour may improve digestibility. Examples include Quorn, Atlast Foods, Meati, and Nature’s Fynd, which cultivates highprotein ‘extremophile’ organisms from Yellowstone National Park using a liquid-air fermentation interface.54

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Precision fermentation Precision fermentation uses engineered microorganisms as ‘cell factories’ by inserting DNA that instructs the host to begin producing a specific molecule of interest.

Examples include Perfect Day and Remilk, which produce dairy proteins without cows; Clara Foods that makes egg proteins without chickens; and Geltor, which makes animal-free gelatine. Precision fermentation is also being used to make other functional food ingredients that have supply chain or purity issues, such as stevia and natural colours.

While biomass and precision fermentation may seem to offer the most disruptive innovations for today’s food industry, traditional fermentation can also be leveraged for interesting product development. The US subsidiary of Brazilian meat giant JBS recently launched a plant-based burger under its Planterra Foods brand made from rice and pea protein fermented with shiitake mycelium. According to MycoTechnology, which supplies the shiitake mycelium, fermentation reduces the off-taste of pea and rice, improves solubility for better texture, reduces chalkiness, and increases the oil- and water-holding capacity for juicier products.55

Mainstreaming demand: Leverage local, traditional, and authentic Although plant-based has been a hot topic for the food industry for years, plant-based meat and dairy analogues are still unchartered territory for many consumers around the world. Using ingredients, formats and manufacturing processes that resonate as being local, traditional, and authentic can build familiarity and reassurance, helping brands reach a broader consumer base.56 German brand Amidori tells consumers that 95% of the peas in its veggie burger are grown by farmers in the east and south of Germany while French ‘fauxmage’ start-up TommPousse ages its cashew-based camembert in the same way as the traditional version and the final product is covered in a white layer of Penicillium camemberti like the original.

This strategy is relevant globally. In India, there has been a recent uptick in demand for local ingredients such as millet and jaggery in packaged foods. Mintel suggests brands could use sattu, a high-protein roasted chickpea flour that comes from East India but is relatively unknown in the rest of the country, to leverage demand for local, plant-based foods.57

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What will shape the plant-based category moving forward?

Sustainable sourcing Demand for sustainably branded products is on the rise, increasing 29% in the US between 2013 and 2019, and is even outpacing growth of conventional products.58 However, one survey found that while 88% of US and UK consumers want brands to help them be more environmental and ethical, 43% said companies were actually making it harder for them.59

“If you’re not clearly helping your customers to improve their environmental and social footprint, then you’re in danger of disappointing of them.”60 The World Business Council for Sustainable Development and Futerra, The Good Life Goals for World-Changing Business

This potential disappointment could be even greater for plant-based brands, which often position their products as being inherently more environmentally-friendly than meat and dairy because they are not animal-based. However, some of the most popular ingredients for plant-based products are associated with significant environmental problems. Soy is a major driver of deforestation and habitat loss in South America61 while intensive, pesticide-dependant cultivation of almonds in California, where around 80% of the world’s supply is grown62, is linked to the collapse of bee colonies.63 As climate change intensifies, consumers’ environmental concerns will too, and manufacturers could face a backlash if they are not seen to be proactively responding to these concerns. A recent European survey found that most consumers (57%) want sustainability information to be compulsory on food labels.64 Voluntarily providing this information could therefore be an effective way for brands to communicate to consumers about their sustainability efforts.

Bee Better Certified, for instance, provides consumers the assurance that a product has been made in a way that benefits pollinators such as bees, and ice cream maker Häagen-Dazs recently added the logo to four of its almonds-containing products. Brands using soy should be transparent about the commodity’s origins and sourcing policy. Growing demand for sustainable, traceable soy has been partly responsible for a rise in domestic production in Europe, which has doubled over the past five years, according to non-profit Danau Soja.65 Assessing the sustainability of crops used in plant-based foods is notoriously complex as it depends on a myriad of factors including pesticide use, yield per hectare, protection of biodiversity, food miles, and processing. Innova predicts that, going forward, manufacturers may increasingly use a variety of plantbased ingredients in one product, positioning this as more sustainable than being dependent on a single, monoculture crop.66 Carbon footprint labelling is another way some plant-based brands have been differentiating themselves.

Oatly and Quorn have added front-of-pack carbon footprint labels to their products while hard discounter Lidl has pledged to offset the carbon emissions it generates during production and transportation of its Next Level vegan range, and a carbon neutral logo now appears on some of its products.67 Such transparency is appealing to many consumers, according to The Hartman Group, which found that 35% of consumers see reducing carbon footprints as a potential definition of sustainability.68

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Cleaner labels: ‘Purity versus processed’ “It’s a new set of rules and it’s not animal versus plant-based, it’s purity versus processed. In this context, transparency becomes a must. We see that consumers want access to everything, from the sourcing policies and product nutritional information to the human rights policies.”69 Peter Wennström, Founder & Senior Consultant, The Healthy Marketing Team

From Impossible Foods’ genetically modified leghaemoglobin to Perfect Day’s microbially fermented casein and whey, scientific advances are helping the plant-based and animal-free sector produce better-tasting and more functional foods. However, analysts warn that an over-reliance on technology, harsh processing methods, and ‘factory floor’ rather than ‘kitchen cupboard’ ingredients could provoke a consumer backlash.70 In some areas, the backlash has already begun. In March 2020, the Center for Food Safety (CFS) filed a lawsuit against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approving Impossible Foods’ soy leghaemoglobin without rigorous safety testing.71 Even plant protein isolates and concentrates are more heavily processed than some consumers might imagine. They also require additives to improve their flavour, colour and texture, meaning many plantbased products are classified as ‘ultra-processed’.72 As the obesity crisis grows, a rejection of ultra-processed packaged foods could spur demand for natural ingredients and unprocessed foods – even if these are animal-based. The traditional meat and dairy sectors are keen to position their products as pure, natural and traditional compared to ultra-processed analogues that have long ingredient lists full of chemical-sounding names.

US dairy brand Shatto tells consumers its milk is ‘pure and honest’, and consists of just one ingredient – milk.

The Center for Consumer Freedom, which receives food industry funding, produced an advert that tells the public:

“Real burgers and brats are made from beef, pork, and spices. Fake meats are ultraprocessed imitations with dozens of ingredients including methylcellulose, titanium dioxide, tertiary butylhydroquinone, and disodium inosinate.”73 According to Euromonitor, 36% of global consumers look for ‘all natural’ claims on the food they buy.74 Directing R&D efforts to develop gentler production methods or changing procurement policies to source less processed ingredients could be one way to tap into this trend. Plant-based brands should also be open and transparent, explaining why they choose certain ingredients and manufacturing methods.

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Key takeaways • Demand for plant-based food and drink is a global trend rooted in long-term concerns for sustainability and health, indicating it has longevity.

• Burgers and milk alternatives are the plant-based category’s ‘flagship’ products but fish, seafood, cheese, and vegetable-based ready meals are interesting white space opportunities.

• Fava beans and fava protein concentrate, jackfruit, and fungal mycelium are trending and have potential in plant-based meat and dairy alternatives.

• Cleaner labels, natural additives and the use of whole, unprocessed ingredients can help brands avoid a backlash against ultra-processed analogues.

• As more brands adopt traditional, biomass, and precision fermentation methods, the taste, texture and functionality of animal-free products will improve, raising sensory expectations and attracting more flexitarian eaters.

The information provided here was compiled with due care and up to date to the best of our knowledge on publication.

DISCOVER THE ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES OF CARAMEL ®

Plant-based ingredients report 2021 | 15

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