One in four consumers say they’ve consumed more plant-based dairy than pre-pandemic. That is according to Sophie Davodeau, innovation director for sweet goods and dairy EAME at Givaudan. “Of course, plant-based food was an underlying trend before COVID-19, but now, with a more significant focus on health, categories like plant-based dairy have become more attractive,” she tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

The role of healthy eating has become a key focus in recent months. “The importance of being healthy in fighting this virus has been crucial,” says Davodeau. “Another key element has been the association between the animal origin of the virus. Concern over consuming animal-derived products has led consumers to be more considerate of their health and the environment.”

For Givaudan, the plant-based dairy sector is on somewhat of a roll. 

“We started talking to consumers on this topic around 2016. Since then, we have invested in understanding the consumer,” Davodeau notes. 

This year, Givaudan researched six countries across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. “We talked to about 2,000 people about plant-based dairy, so this was a core piece of research that we did both early on the year, then a bit later.”

The most significant finding has been how the pandemic has affected consumers’ attitudes towards plant-based dairy. 

Who consumes plant-based dairy?
“Around 50 percent of the people surveyed, depending on the country, are consumers of this category. Interestingly, when we delve a bit deeper, we see that most people who consume plant-based, don’t have a restrictive diet, i.e., they do not label themselves vegan or vegetarian,” explains Davodeau. 

Most consumers mix and match their dairy or plant-based products, meaning they will vary for some occasions, and maybe not on others, she adds. “Therefore, the plant-based dairys reach is wide-ranging and has the potential to target everyone, ultimately,” Davodeau affirms. 

Flexitarian and reducetarian consumers are a key focus for Givaudan currently. “These reducetarian consumers are actively trying to reduce the amount of dairy they consume, and the rest are somewher between flexitarian and exclusively consuming dairy.”

“A vast majority of people who consume plant-based dairy also consume dairy,” Davodea says. “Therefore, they switch from one to not to another, so if theyre not satisfied with the alternative, then they will have absolutely no problem going back to a different and more traditional dairy.”

Moreover and unsurprisingly, 80 percent of children who live in a household wher plant-based products are widely consumed will also consume a significant proportion of plant-based foods.

As part of the company’s research, we also ask how satisfied consumers are about the products that are on the market today. “Around one-third of consumers say they are ‘really satisfied’ with the products on the market, but most (60 percent) say they are just ‘somewhat satisfied’.” 

“So theres a lot of improvement needed in the area of taste,” With this comes several challenges.

Ensuring that taste is key 
The biggest issue in successful plant-based products is taste. 

“We know that consumers are not very willing to compromise on taste,” Davodeau stresses. 

However, there are plenty of opportunities to make these products taste appealing. 

“And so our focus is on making sure those products taste fantastic and we do that through helping our customers with the different elements of taste. Moreover, the masking of off-notes is often associated with different plant-bases, and whether its a single plant base or whether its a blend, and its not always the same. Still, the challenges remain,” Davodeau explains. 

Mouthfeel is also an essential factor to consider, which also impacts taste, she adds. 

However, the driver behind a products success is not necessarily because its plant-based. 

“The consumers’ inherent motivation in this category is health and then following this, is the environment. And the last one is around trying new tastes and trendy ingredients. All of these will play differently depending on the plant source you have,” Davodeau asserts. 

Some plant sources are considered more healthy, and so the consumers who are motivated by health would choose these. Some plant sources would be regarded as more environmentally friendly, and therefore, the people whose core motivation is the environment will go towards a specific plant source, she explains. 

Flavors trigger interest
There is a movement towards more indulgent flavors in the plant-based dairy category. 

“The category started with very healthy milk and yogurt-based products, and its moving towards the more indulgent products, such as ice cream, desserts, and the barista-type products. Here, it also requires different types of flavors,” she muses. 

Flexitarian and reducetarian consumers are a key focus for Givaudan. Givaudan is expecting 12 percent annual growth in the plant-based category overall. So flavors play a significant role in the space. 

“There is growth happening in all of those traditional plant-based applications, yogurt, milks, desserts, children’s products, to name a few.”

So for Givaudan, good taste, flavors and mouthfeel all have to be considered. 

“Theres a lot of work happening on continuously improving the products currently on the market with better taste.” Davodeau continues. 

“There are new flavors, maskers and mouthfeel components that constantly help those products to get better and better,” she states. 

Another element for Givaudan moving into next year is the potential for hybrid dairy and plant-based dairy products. 

“There’s a huge opportunity to bring products to the market that are hybrid, for consumers that may consume both real dairy and plant-based in a mix,” Davodeau concludes.