The likelihood of consumers purchasing plant-based foods rather than the animal-meat equivalents increases dramatically when priced the same, new research shows.
According to food awareness organisation, ProVeg International’s latest survey, most people want plant-based meat alternatives to be the same price as animal-based meat and to be similarly subsidised by the government.
This comes as the cost-of-living crisis has seen the price of conventional meat increase, with plant-based products largely unaffected by inflation due to having typically higher margins of 35% to 50% incomparison to 8% for meat.
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“Those higher margins may have acted as a buffer to absorb the price blows, while with meat, supermarkets had no choice but to raise prices,” ProVeg’s Pablo Moleman said.
“This could explain why animal-based meat has been hit so hard by price increases and plant-based substitutes have not.”
ProVeg’s report, ‘Plant-based price parity’, surveyed 1,000 consumers and found that 66% decribed themselves as omniovers and 24% follow a flexitarian diet.
When considering a reduction in price of a plant-based burger from £6 to £2, this increased purchasing by 134%, and decreased that of beef burgers by 14%.
For participants, 70% agreed plant-based food is more expensive and less affordable than animal-based foods, with 67% prioriting saving money over making ethical decisions.
Director of corporate engagement, Stephanie Jazcniakowska-McGirr said: “Consumers want to know what they are paying for – with plant-based products, there is plenty to say about health, the environment, animal welfare, and great taste.
“Equally important is the need to try to keep the price of the product as low as possible, since our survey found that people are more likely to buy plant-based products if they are cheaper than their animal-based equivalents.”
She added that this can be done “by using plant-based ingredients that are low in cost but still high in nutritional value, such as beans, lentils, peas and oats,” while plant-based food companies can invest in research and development and process management to find a way to manufacture products that are as affordable as possible to the end-consumer.
