Blended Proteins: A Healthy Balance For Retailers And Flexitarians

As consumer attitudes toward meat are undergoing significant changes, new lines of meat alternatives are hitting the shelves every day. These changes are being driven by shifts in the U.S. population toward younger generations with increasingly diverse ethnic profiles and attitudes. These shifts have also been accelerated by consumer concerns about the safety and availability of the meat supply chain in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of these ongoing changes, plant-based meat alternatives are now top of mind for both meat consumers and the retail meat industry alike.

Changing attitudes have also given rise to several new meat consumer segments including those known as Flexitarians. Flexitarians represent about one-fifth of meat eaters and are comprised of those who actively replace meat and poultry with vegetable- and plant-based proteins as a main dish daily or several times a week. Compared to the general meat eater, Flexitarians express more concerns about their health and the environment, see themselves as extremely environmentally conscious and are willing to pay more for environmentally safe products.¹

The retail growth of blends was preceded by a similar trend in the foodservice industry. The James Beard Foundation just completed the Fifth Annual Blended Burger Project — an initiative that encourages chefs to create healthier, more sustainable, tastier burgers that are at least 25% mushroom.⁵ Several retail brands have started producing mushroom-blended burgers as part of the Blended Burger Project, including Applegate Organics^®, Grateful Burger and Raised & Rooted™ Blended Angus Beef Patties.⁴ Thomas Foods USA has also developed its own Flexitarian ground beef product that is approximately 70% meat and 30% vegetables, including carrots, broccoli and cabbage.

Brands are also changing their packaging to make these new blended products more attractive to Flexitarian shoppers at the meat case. “The demand for fresh meat alternatives has recently skyrocketed as consumers grow more health and socially conscious,” explained Monty Kayes, Director of New Business Development, Sealed Air. “As a result, we have also seen a spike in the demand for alternative packaging formats.” Some of these alternative packaging formats, like CRYOVAC^® Brand plant-based rollstock, use less traditional plastic and give processors the protection they need while offering health and environmentally conscious Flexitarians the sustainability they demand.