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Meat Alternatives

Will bird flu and inflation send diners flocking to plant-based meat alternatives?

  • Inflation and avian flu could make the timing right for meat alternatives to grow market share.
  • Fresh beef and chicken prices were both up 9% in April, while meat alternatives were down 1.6%.
  • Meat alternatives have a 1.5% share of the meat sales market, about 20% of consumers have tried them.
  • By contrast, plant-based milk has reached 42% of households and has a 16% share of the market.

Consumers flipped over the notion of hamburgers made from plants instead of animals when the alternatives showed up in supermarkets and fast-food chains about five years ago.

But with prices for meat replacements high and America’s taste for real beef intact, shoppers steered away even as the plant-based meat-alternative industry slogged away with new products, better distribution and the opening of new international markets.

Now, plant-based product makers could be poised to get their sizzle back. Inflation is raising prices of beef and other meats faster than for plant-based alternatives. Plus, price hikes related to an avian flu outbreak that has spread to flocks in 34 states could tempt more consumers to try the newfangled meat and poultry replacements.