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Technical feasibility of egg ingredient reductionreplacement in US foods (Rethink Priorities)

  1. One potential strategy for reducing animal product usage is to decrease processed egg use in manufactured foods, which represent approximately 8% of global egg production.
  2. This report analyzes the US-manufactured food landscape to develop methods and identify opportunities for egg replacement advocacy, examining three key factors:
    1. Volume of eggs used across food product categories
    2. Functions served by eggs in different food products
    3. Technical feasibility of replacing eggs with available alternatives
  3. We analyze data from the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) FoodData Central database and Weekly Retail Sales database to estimate egg usage patterns across food categories, and classify egg and replacement functions by food category using data from American Egg Board, Lever Foundation, and Reading Scientific Services Ltd. (RSSL).
  4. Key findings from our analysis:
    1. The most prevalent egg functions across food categories are moisture/fat contribution, binding, and structure (medium confidence).
    2. Most food categories rely on eggs for multiple functions simultaneously, making replacement more technically challenging (high confidence).
    3. Categories like prepared subs and sandwiches; prepared wraps and burritos; snack, energy, and granola bars; and pasta may present the best balance between moderate ease of replacement and volume impact (low confidence).
      1. Our preferred robust specification discounts total category egg use by the percentage of egg-containing items and weights primary and secondary egg functions. This approach gives a more conservative estimate of total category egg use and compresses replaceability prioritization, but it largely does not change our overall recommendations (see Robustness checks section).
      2. Notable limitations appear in the selected results (for example, different character iterations of the phrase “cookies and biscuits” are prioritized differently), which highlight the need for more data cleaning research.
  5. Recommendations for how to best support egg replacement advocacy:
    1. Conduct further desk research on the top Priority 3 categories: prepared subs and sandwiches; prepared wraps and burritos; snack, energy, and granola bars; and pasta.
    2. Support food and consumer product consultancies who can address aspects of replaceability that go beyond technical feasibility—including costs, manufacturer awareness, and consumer acceptance—for prioritized categories.
    3. Commission scientific research on areas of egg functionality that need more innovation, such as moisture/fat contribution.