EU residents trusted to understand what veggie burgers are

As consumers continue to stay at home and cook more food at home, meat substitutes are expected to remain popular among vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians. Credit: Fischer Food Design via Shutterstock.

The meat substitutes sector has shown strong resilience against the COVID-19 slowdown, that has impacted so many other FMCG sectors. In fact, supported by positive health associations and increased green awareness which has led to continuous investments from foodservice and FMCG giants alike, meat substitutes will record positive growth against both value and volume.

However, this growth was threatened by a legal challenge in the EU which aimed to ‘prevent confusion’ by disallowing meat substitutes to use terms such as ‘burger’ and ‘sausage’, instead of replacing them with terms like ‘disc’ and ‘tube’. The proposal was rejected by the EU, which is sure to aid, or at least not hinder, the category as consumers continue to substitute meat in their diet with equivalents made from soy, grain, fungi and vegetables.

This proposal, brought by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) is considered frivolous by many vegan and vegetarian commentators. Such a rule change would only be likely to negatively impact meat substitutes and safeguard meat sales. Changing product names from an easily understood familiar term to relatively uncanny, artificial-sounding names would only be likely to alienate consumers from alternatives to meat. The use of familiar names with ‘veggie’ attached, such as veggie burgers and sausages allows the product to be more simply integrated into familiar European cuisines.

As consumers continue to stay at home and cook more food at home, meat substitutes are expected to remain popular among vegetarians, vegans and flexitarians. According to GlobalData’s most recent consumer survey, published on November 10, *²11% of European consumers said they were buying the more plant-based meat alternatives during the pandemic than before, in addition to the *²35% saying they were buying the same amount.

Unsurprisingly, millennials and Gen Xers drive the consumption of meat substitutes. Although the pandemic has had an impact on meat substitutes in Europe, the outlook for the category is positive. Millennials and Gen Xers seem to be taking meat-free or reduced-meat diets seriously, likely as a result of increased ethical- and eco-consciousness. Indeed, *³39% of European millennials said that how ethical, environmentally friendly or socially responsible a product or service always influences their choice, and the same was true of *³ 31% of European Gen Xers.

Gen Xers and millennials are the target consumers for product design and ethical and environmental marketing during and after the pandemic. These groups appear to care more about ethical and environmental issues, as well as consume more meat substitutes.

Sources:

* Covid-19 recovery tracker consumer survey, November 10, 2020

*2 Covid-19 recovery tracker consumer survey, combining answers “I am buying significantly more than before”; “I am buying slightly more than before”; “I am stockpiling, i.e. buying this in bulk or multiple times”, and “I have never bought this but have started buying this now”

*3 Covid-19 recovery tracker consumer survey, combining answers “always influences my product choice” and “often influences my product choice.

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