“Plenty of potential for growth”: Plant-based is far from plateauing, say pioneers

03 Aug 2022 --- Cleaning up the plant-based label, strengthening sustainability, sharpening regional sourcing of materials and optimizing products on the shelf for more diverse offerings - these are just some of the focus areas of the plant-based space, according to Planteneers.

Brian Walker, global commercial director, examines future opportunities for plant-based, delving into how industry is poised to take products to the next level regarding clean label, nutrition and environmental impact. 

Planteneers, which helps companies develop plant-based solutions, recently showcased several products at IFT, Chicago, including plant-based smoked salmon and salmon filets as well as plant-based pepperoni. 

FoodIngredientsFirst was on the show floor for an in-depth interview with Walker. 

“There is a bit of a focus on seafood as that is one of the next categories showing a lot of interest in the market,” he says. “When the plant-based trend started, there were no real rules around it. People just wanted to get products on the market; they wanted to get them on the shelves, in foodservice, on menus, etc.”

Walker explains how that demand has been somewhat satisfied in certain categories, and now there is a greater emphasis on diversification and optimization. 

“The trends now are things like plant-based cheese, where consumers are giving us feedback that there’s not enough selection of specialty cheeses, there’s not enough variety, some of the products on the market aren’t meeting their expectations,” Walker continues.

“Same with plant-based fish. So we’re doing a lot of work on fruit, fish and seafood, but also optimizing some of the things that are on the shelves. There’s always product improvement as we learn better technologies,” he explains. 

Consumers are also specifically becoming increasingly aware and concerned about the clean label credentials of plant-based products, which up until now haven’t necessarily received the same level of scrutiny as non-plant-based products.

While Millennials push demand for sustainability and climate-related drivers for better products, animal welfare doesn’t seem to be attached to a certain demographic.

While the clean label movement has been around for 15 years or more in general food formulation, applying it to the relatively new plant-based space is now much more pertinent. The same is true for sustainability.

“There used to be no real rules and big ingredient labels that read like a couple of paragraphs on the side of the product, but now we are finding that retailers, foodservice operators, etc., are saying that consumers are a little more concerned about this. Can we have cleaner labels? Can we have more transparency?” 

“Slowly but surely, we’re seeing that’s going to happen in the future as one of the pillars of the plant-based trend is sustainability.”

One example is how consumers are beginning to get interested in the botanical sources of their plant proteins and their geographic sources; asking questions like “where are they coming from?” and “what sort of carbon footprint do they have?”

“We’re seeing a little bit more benefit now and a bit of a marketing strategy in regional sourcing products.”

An example is that in the past, fava beans grown in Canada were shipped to China for protein isolation. Then that protein isolate was shipped to Planteneers in Germany to include in some of its solutions, which could well then be shipped back to Canada as an ingredient for a food company to put a product on the market.

This is not a particularly friendly carbon footprint, and sustainability is a crucial component underpinning the plant-based trend. 

Meanwhile, animal welfare and nutrition are also driving plant-based innovation. 

While Millennials push demand for sustainability and climate-related drivers for better products, animal welfare doesn’t seem to be attached to a certain demographic, “it’s just how people feel,” says Walker. 

On the other hand, nutrition is extremely important for older consumers who tend to think more about health conditions and consider cutting meat (while still keeping it in their diet) and eating more of a plant-based diet for a healthier lifestyle. Of course, it’s not just Baby Boomers who are mindful. Walker notes that anyone who is nutritionally savvy and conscious of what they’re consuming is considering more plant-based options in day-to-day life. 

Looking for an alternative to clean up the label 
Further examining the increase in regional sourcing and cleaning up the label, Walker explains how the company is putting together its plant and functional blends to be conscious of these two key factors. 

“We are looking for solutions to eliminate some of the numbers on the labels, some of the other things that might not be considered as clean as others and opening up transparency. Can we replace some of the hydrocolloids with things like fibers and proteins? Or, can we replace modified starch with native starch, these sorts of things, and we’re incorporating them into our solutions,” Walker adds.

Also, from the regional point of view, what sort of proteins are we using in our functional blends? Where are they coming from? We’re trying to align with those trends to help our customers take advantage of those tendencies in terms of presenting products that consumers are really after.” 

“Plant-Based: The canvas for innovation” is Innova Market Insights’ second Top Ten Trend for 2022, underscoring Walkers points. 

Data backs up that personal health and global sustainability are proving to be strong drivers of consumer choice, pushing plant-based R&D to refocused from mimicking meat, fish and dairy to optimizing and diversifying options.Innova Market Insight flags that consumers consider plant-based alternatives to be healthier and better for the planet.

The market researcher says that consumers consider plant-based alternatives to be healthier and better for the planet. And, the desire for diet variation, is further boosting interest in plant-based beyond the traditional vegan and vegetarian sectors, leading to a 59% increase in launches of new plant-based products in the year to August 2021.

While the plant-based space is clearly constantly evolving, there is a sentiment that it may have plateaued somewhat.

However, Walker stresses that there are significant growth opportunities out there.

“Growth has slowed down certainly in the last few months, and here’s a couple of reasons for that. Globally, everyone’s feeling the economic pinch and Plant-based typically at the moment is sold at a premium through supermarket chains and retail. So it’s considered a bit more of discretionary spending than a must-have by some consumers. 

Another key reason why consumers may move away from plant-based is that they may not be fully satisfied with the taste experience. 

“A lot of consumers are trying plant-based foods for the first time. If they try a product that doesn’t meet their expectation, they are then saying that, for instance, a plant-based yogurt it’s not for them or plant-based pepperonis is not for me.”

“But if you try a new brand of yogurt and don’t like it, you don’t stop buying yogurt. You just stop buying that one. But with the plant-based at the moment, these first impressions can influence thinking. People may think, ‘well, I didn’t like that; therefore, I won’t like any of them.’ That’s a bit of a challenge.”

While the plant-based space is clearly constantly evolving, there is a sentiment that it may have plateaued somewhat.

Repeat purchase is not where the food companies would like it to be, and more work is needed to optimize products already on the market while coming up with more products that are more authentic to meet consumer expectations.

“Flexitarians are the core group of consumers of plant-based foods. And, if they’re trying new plant-based foods that are coming on the market and they don’t like them, then it really is hard to win them back as they lose trust in the category, not that particular product.”

Room for everyone?
Looking to a future world where the population will increase to just under 10 billion by 2050, accelerating the need for alternative proteins, Walker expects technology to evolve and research and funding to be injected into fermentation techniques. 

There is also the burgeoning cell-based space to consider. 

“We’ve got to keep an eye on what’s happening in all of those areas and how we can be relevant to them should the need arise,” Walker says. 

Planteeners is not necessarily advocating for people to become vegan but instead promoting a mindful approach to diet that is an efficient and healthier way to feed the growing population. 

“The meat farmers and the dairy farmers of the world are doing a fabulous job becoming more sustainable and becoming more effective and efficient in what they do. But the fact is that it will never be as efficient as eating plant-based food directly. But that’s not for everybody. And, everyone wants variety in their food.”

“So this growing air middle area of being flexitarian, I believe, will continue to grow. I haven’t seen the specific latest numbers, but the share of plant-based foods in the whole market in the US is probably less than 2%. So it still has a lot of scope,” Walker concludes.

By Gaynor Selby