Britain’s hunger for meat subsitutes has significantly grown despite the number of vegans and vegetarians remaining less than 10 per cent of the population.
According to a new report by the Agriculutre & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) launched this week there are now more plant-based products than ever, a trend being driven being meat-eaters looking for something different.
A total of seven per cent of the population classify themselves as vegetarian, with four per cent pescetarian, and just two per cent vegan. Flexitarians – who cut down on meat consumption for health reasons – make up a further seven per cent of the population.
Meat substitute product launches accounted for almost 14 per cent of all new ‘meat’ launches tracked in Western Europe, and half of veggie brand Quorn's purchases came from meat-eaters.
AHDB senior consumer insight analyst Susie Stannard said: “Only a tiny minority of the population are actually vegan, with meat and dairy remaining cornerstones of the British diet.
“But veganism receives a disproportionate amount of media attention and we wanted to explore what’s driving this attention and how it plays out in the marketplace.”
According to AHDB/YouGov’s consumer tracker, the vast majority of the population regard themselves as meat-eaters – with figures from Kantar showing that 91 per cent of British households purchase red meat.
Yet with supermarkets increasing the amount of meat substitutes and their stock of in veggie aisles, the demand for fruit and veg looks set to keep rising.
