It seems like you can’t open an email newsletter these days from an agriculture or meat publication without reading another headline about alternative proteins. We get frequent questions from our members about how they should respond to everything they’re seeing about how the meat industry’s days are numbered. If you look at the volume of conversation around these products, it’d be easy to believe that the demand for meat alternatives will eclipse demand for real meat any day now.

Luckily for most of us, this isn’t actually true. According to data shared on Twitter by Dr. Sara Place (highly recommend following @DrSPlace for great insights into sustainable beef production), retail sales of plant-based meats have grown in the United States, but growth from 2018 to 2019 was down compared to 2017 to 2018, and total dollar value sales increase for beef was much greater than for alternatives: $550 million vs. $70 million.

Dr. Place also shared data that indicate that alternative protein consumers are also not shunning meat. These products are just another option available to include as part of a varied diet and are not being widely consumed as meat replacements at this point. One-quarter of consumers are eating meat alternatives at least weekly, compared to 69 percent eating beef; 80 percent eating chicken; 44 percent eating pork and 40 percent eating fish. Of the consumers who do eat meat alternatives at least weekly, the numbers look quite similar to the population as a whole: 67 percent eating beef; 80 percent eating chicken; 55 percent eating pork and 62 percent eating fish.

Recent survey research conducted by Dr. Jayson Lusk backs up these trends and also indicates that consumers prefer the real thing. A study of about 1,800 U.S. consumers asked participants to make a number of choices among different options, including conventional farm-raised beef, a plant-based burger made with pea protein (like the Beyond Burger), a plant-based burger made with animal-like protein (like the Impossible Burger), cell-cultured meat, or they could choose not to buy any of the products. With prices kept the same, 72 percent of participants chose farm-raised beef, 16 percent plant-based meat alternatives, 7 percent plant-based animal-like protein and 5 percent cell-cultured meat.

Adding brand names (Certified Angus Beef, Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, Memphis Meats) actually increased the percentage choosing farm-raised beef to 80 percent. Giving participants more information about environmental impacts of different options had minor effects on the market shares, but reduced the number of people who chose to buy none of the products at all.

The meat industry and livestock producers should certainly pay attention to the buzz around these new products and seek to understand why they appeal to some consumers. If we understand that, we can make sure meat stays on the plate by addressing concerns about sustainability, animal welfare and other hot topics.

The vast majority of consumers enjoy eating meat and want to continue doing so – it’s our responsibility to give them information that allows them to choose real meat confidently.

Beyond the “fake meat” hysteria – meat still center of the plate

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