Mane Monitors Flexitarian Trends and Appeals to Future Meat-Free Eaters

04 Oct 2016 --- As the number of flexitarians grows globally, leading fragrance and flavor house Mane is reaffirming its position in the meat-free space which continues to go through huge growth around the world. The meat-free market is booming with high volumes of product launches across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in particular, reported by Innova Market Insights. There has been a 38 percent, on average, increase in the EMEA per year leading to predictions from Mane that the flexitarian trend is “here to stay.”

To better understand the key drivers and latest flexitarian trends, Mane recently conducted a European-wide survey. The aim was to look at the usage and attitudes towards meat-free products including habits, drivers and barriers, consumption potential, preferred and desired taste and formats. It involved more than 1,700 consumers, aged between 18 and 65, across France, Germany and the UK.

The results showed differences in terms of usage and attitudes between participants over the three countries with flexitarians representing between 24 percent and 36 percent of the population. One quarter of Europeans want to reduce their meat consumption within the next five years and similar numbers are considering ramping up their vegetable protein intake. The survey also gave Mane an indication of the potential different types of vegetarian and vegan products consumers would like to see, as well as taste preferences in each country.

Based on the results, Mane has “fined-tuned” its products and is recommending solutions that directly relate to the expectations of meat-free consumers as part of its continuing strategy to understand how the market is developing, consumer preferences and what actions are needed to convert non-consumers into flexitarians of the future. 

Mane has been a key partner of leading savory vegetarian and vegan food manufacturers for more than two decades and has a wide portfolio of reformulated products and a well-established history of working with vegetable proteins like soy and pea. The Sense Capture soy range of masking flavors has been adapted to these products.

The company has a “deep knowledge” of the meat sector, which surprisingly, uses the same ingredients and production process as the meat-free sector, has a culinary chef network and flavor expertise to create a range of recipes and mask the off-notes that can come from using vegetable proteins. 

by Gaynor Selby