Nils-Gerrit Wunsch
Research expert covering foods trends in North America, Europe, and the global food system
Meat substitutes market in the United Kingdom - statistics & facts
The United Kingdom is one of Europe’s most developed markets for meat substitutes. These products are universally available and reach a large part of the country’s consumers. In Europe, only the German market generates a higher sales value for plant-based meat alternatives. Regular meat is holding steady, though, and its per capita consumption in the United Kingdom came to 61.7 kilograms. Little change in meat consumption is expected in the coming years.
Consumption of meat alternatives
For comparison, the per capita consumption of plant-based alternatives amounts to 1.24 kilograms. This is a far cry from meat consumption levels. However, long-term plant-based meat consumption is expected to rise. Currently, overall consumption volumes are at 85.6 million kilograms. Consumption is in large parts driven by perceived health benefits of plant-based substitutes. Close to 40 percent of plant-based meat consumers stated in a UK-wide survey that health benefits are their reason for eating plant-based substitutes. Increasing discussions about the healthiness of hyper-processed food products, such as meat alternatives, have the potential to negatively impact consumer interest in plant-based meat products.Meat substitute brands
The UK market has a rich landscape of meat substitute brands. Quorn is in the lead, based on brand awareness among the general population. Approximately 82 percent of all consumers in the country are aware of it. It outclasses most of its competitors in awareness. For comparison, Beyond Meat, a meat substitute brand of the first hour, is known by around 40 percent of consumers. Compared to Quorn's brand awareness among the total population, this goes up by five percent to 87 percent among meat substitute consumers. Quorn is popular with about 58 percent of responding plant-based consumers and gets eaten by 60 percent.
