Plant-based is shifting its focus from the sheer replacement of animal products to producing higher-quality meat and dairy “complements,” which add more plants to consumer diets. As the category matures, brands are increasingly stringent on taste and texture development to capture the flexitarian market.

More indulgent plant-based options, like vegan macaroons, cupcakes and ice cream are also picking up new followers.

The category is also witnessing more diverse and locally sourced proteins. Protein sourced from rapeseed, yeast, and potato brings new nutritional and functional values while spreading out risk during times of price volatility and climate change. 

Cost has also been a challenge, with businesses finding ways to strike a balance between price and quality. FoodIngredientsFirst spoke to companies on the show floor of Fi Europe (FiE) 2022 on the next generation of plant-based F&B innovations.  

Edlong demonstrates vegan dairy flavors in vanilla cupcakes with “buttercream” frosting.Markedly more discerning
Growth in the plant-based market isn’t as rapid as it once was, notes Cindy Semeijn, business development manager at Emsland. She observes that “it’s easy” to have high growth in a category that starts out small as plant-based did.

“Plant-based growth used to be 40% to 50%, and now it’s more like 10% to 15%. But it’s still the market we need to focus on, not only because of the trends but because we have to eat less animal protein and dairy.”

Semeijn doesn’t see the slowing down as a negative point but as a natural progression toward better quality.

“At the start of the plant-based movement, the market was flooded with new products. Every food company wanted to launch their version as soon as possible, which was often lower in quality. The result is that consumers didn’t go back,” she explains.

Research from olam foods ingredients (ofi), which surveyed over 1,500 consumers in Europe last month, echoes this sentiment. It found that 8% of consumers switched back to dairy after the first plant-based product they tried.

“This is a significant part of the market; almost 10% are dropping out of the category. We are losing these people due to dissatisfaction,” says Laura Barber, VP global consumer and market insights at ofi.  

Cindy Semeijn, business development manager at Emsland.She adds that the plant-based market for beverages, desserts and ice cream in Europe is valued at over €5 billion (US$5.2 billion), presenting “a huge opportunity to reformulate” and win over the taste buds of trifling consumers.

Meanwhile, DSM recognizes that taste is still the number one problem facing the plant-based category today. DSM’s president of food and beverage Patrick Niels hints that the company will be addressing that problem head-on through its merger with Switzerland-based Firmenich.  

Indulgence trending
With taste being a key area of focus, it’s no surprise that businesses are finding sweet and indulgent platforms to be a breeding ground for plant-based innovation.

Ofi research notes that 35% of consumers surveyed in Europe had not found a plant-based dairy product that satisfies their preferences and bad taste and texture was the primary reason for this.

At FiE Europe, Edlong developed plant-based vanilla cupcakes to demonstrate the capabilities of vegan dairy flavors. The “buttercream” frosting employed the company’s Natural Milky Creamy Flavor to give an authentic dairy taste.

“We have seen requests for plant-based in all kinds of indulgent categories,” says Emsland’s Semeijn, even for cream liqueurs like Baileys.

Furthermore, Brenntag presented an egg-free macaroon made with potato protein that presented melt-in-your-mouth qualities. The vegan creation was developed to simultaneously offer an alternative to eggs, which has jumped in price while tapping into plant-based trends.

Beneo’s new plant-based chicken chunks are made with pea and mycoprotein.Barriers to success
For Niels at DSM, one of the main reasons that plant-based has fallen short is its premium price.

“The big dilemma with plant-based products is around cost and quality. Making something cheap may be easy, but it also needs to be enjoyable,” he underscores.

“The reason you see a decline in plant-based growth is because the industry has not been able to truly fulfill the demand of consumers, which is superior in taste, texture, nutrition and at a price that is on par with meat.”

Niels explains that DSM’’s new Vertis canola-based protein is “higher priced than other plant proteins, such as pea, but its nutrition is superior.”

The newly launched product has a protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of one, similar to soy or whey. Businesses must find the balance between increased quality and cost.

For brands who find highly nutritional products cost-prohibitive, blends with other plant-based proteins can help achieve a lower price point while still bringing the full range of amino acids to the final product.

Within plant-based dairy, a “better price to quality ratio” was ranked as most important to more than one-fifth of European consumers in a recent ofi survey.

Griffith Foods displays three generations of plant-based foods (from top right, counterclockwise) a “chicken” nugget, “fish” cake and a crunchy ring that embraces a new shape for plant-based with a crunchy grain coating.Proteins from precision fermentation
More ingredients are becoming available for formulators to help them improve quality and scale. 

At FiE, yeast protein was more present. China-based Angel Yeast presented a yeast protein that can be used to increase the macronutrient in nutritional F&B. Biospringer by LeSaffre, meanwhile, demonstrated a plant-based smoked ham with yeast protein, and representatives at Brazil-based Biorigin said they would be rolling out a new yeast protein in the middle of next year.

Yeast protein and other fermentation-based proteins, such as mycoprotein, have a distinct advantage in availability as they rely less on climate for production. Nevertheless, they do require plant-based raw materials as a substrate for fermentation, such as molasses in the case of yeast protein, which relies on sugar supplies.

Jumping onto the mycoprotein trend, Beneo launched its first semi-finished plant-based product at FiE, “chicken” chunks made with mycoprotein and pea protein. The launch follows the recent acquisition of Meatless.

Diversification needed
In addition to fermented products, a wider range of protein sources is being tapped.

“The plant-based category has been very much soy- or wheat-based. These have disadvantages due to allergenicity and they also raise questions of biodiversity loss,” says Niels.

Rochelle Schaetzl, marketing manager for Griffith Foods Europe, agrees that plant-based will move into a diversity of ingredients, in line with promoting regenerative agriculture.

“We know that the world is being fed on basically three plant species – rice, maize and wheat. That’s not good for the planet. So while we are trying to reduce animal protein consumption from a carbon emission perspective, there is also the risk that mono agriculture is stressing the world’s resources.”

She anticipates more ancient grains to come to the fore, particularly from north Africa, such as teff and sorghum.

Formulations based on fava were also increasingly evident at FiE, with FrieslandCampina Ingredients demoing a chocolate beverage with its Plantaris isolates, with both pea and fava isolates in the range.