A large majority of Americans understand plant-based meat labeling
This fact sheet summarizes recent research showing Americans understand what plant-based meat is, do not confuse it with animal-based meat, and want to see it labeled descriptively with terms they know from conventional meat products.
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Americans are clear on buying plant-based meat
We surveyed a demographically representative, randomly recruited sample of more than 3,000 American adults and found that a majority understood the difference between plant-based and animal-based meat products based on current labeling.
On average, 86 percent of Americans correctly identified that packages of widely available plant-based meat products were “made with plant-based ingredients (e.g., vegetables, legumes).” 78 percent of Americans correctly identified one or more of the plant protein ingredients in the plant-based meat products they reviewed: soy protein, pea protein, or wheat gluten.
Additionally, 84 percent correctly identified that packages of plant-based meat products did not “contain meat from an animal.” In fact, “plant-based meat” is a term most Americans are familiar with: 92 percent have heard of this term, and 65 percent claim to know “a little” or “a lot” about it.
Most Americans believe companies should be able to use “plant-based” on labels
When asked what name they thought best described the plant-based products they saw, Americans were most likely to choose “plant-based” beef/chicken/bacon/deli slices/fish filets (42 percent), followed by the phrase “-made from plants” (25 percent).
When asked about support for using plant-based terms in labeling (i.e., “should be allowed”), 56 percent of Americans agree that “companies should be allowed to use terms like ‘plant-based beef’ or ‘plant-based chicken’ to describe plant-based products meant to mimic beef, chicken, etc.,” while only 20 percent disagree (remainder undecided). When asked about support for regulation (i.e., “should not be allowed,” only 31 percent of Americans agreed, and 34 percent disagreed (the remainder undecided).
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