Associations Between Consumption Of Meats And Animal Product Alternatives (Faunalytics)
In this Faunalytics analysis, we look in detail at different dietary habits and how the consumption of animal product alternatives and conventional meats are related.
Despite strong preferences for meat, many Americans report already reducing meat consumption (ranging from 16% to 39% depending on the survey) and even more say they intend to do so. However, the strategies they use to reduce and replace meat with alternatives are not well investigated.
Conclusions
The data points at the fact that the market for alternative animal products is predominantly omnivore-driven. From these results, we see that 8% of omnivores eat meat substitutes on a regular, close-to-daily basis and even more (14%) regularly consume dairy alternatives, largely thanks to flagship plant-based products such as non-dairy milk and meatless burgers. At the same time, there is great untapped potential among consumers who have tried alternatives but still eat them only sporadically: about a quarter of all omnivores. Consumers that already made first steps in a “consumer journey” with animal product alternatives may be easier to reach and be persuaded to reduce meat than the half of omnivores who don’t eat alternatives at all.
The omnivore consumers of animal product alternatives exhibit both lower meat consumption and more positive attitudes toward “vegan” and “plant-based” labels than the conventional omnivore population. Although the relationship between dairy and egg alternatives and dairy consumption seems to be a more complex one, meat alternatives confirm their important role in omnivore’s meat reduction attempts.