Plant-Based Foods
Delivered April 16, 2020. Contributor: Maria E.
Goals
To understand the trends surrounding consumer preference of plant-based products by looking at plant-based products that may be associated with non-dairy dressings as well as details on what the trend is and factors driving the trend.
Early Findings
Plant-Based Natural Sweetener
Consumers have been seeking a healthier and more natural way to still have the accustomed sweetness in their diet. Here are the plant-based natural sweeteners that are considered to be the best and most popular: - Stevia - Stevia is a small shrub that has been natively grown in Paraguay where it has been used as a sweetener for centuries. Some mid-calorie sodas, as well as Cargill's Tuvia, are examples of existing products in the market that use stevia as a sweetener. The artificial sweetener industry considers "Stevia as the most hopeful natural sweetener."
- Monk fruit - This has been used in "Cumberland Packaging’s Monk Fruit in the Raw sweetener." This, however, is "more expensive to produce than stevia."
Plant-Based Mustard
- Daiya Foods seem to be the only available store that sells plant-based mustard. Daiya Foods products are free of common allergens such as dairy, gluten, soy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish.
Plant-Based Milk
- Of all the plant-based categories, "plant-based milk is the most developed with total dollar sales of $1.86 billion in April 2019."
- Oatly was able to partner with Starbucks "under which it will add its vegan oat milk to the latter’s 1,300 locations across the Midwest."
Proposed next steps:
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