As consumer demand for plant-based foods continues to rise, so does the call for cleaner, more authentic products that deliver on health, taste, and sustainability.
The next evolution, dubbed Plant-based 3.0, focuses on de-junking formulations, embracing transparency, and diversifying protein sources to meet diverse lifestyle goals.
In a panel discussion at Fi Europe in Frankfurt last month, product development, R&D, and consumer insights experts shared their strategies to navigate this new frontier. Lisa Zychowski, head of formulations and strategic procurement at Planted Foods, Kathryn Peters, head of industry relations at SPINS, and Elizabeth Thundow, VP of consulting food and nutrition at Kline & Company, explored how changing consumer demands and new processing techniques are reshaping the sector.
There has been a steady shift from plant-based as a niche category to a broad range of foods and beverages with much more mainstream appeal, driven by flexitarianism and interest from meat eaters. According to Peters, consumer priorities have also broadened to include health and environmental concerns.
“The planetary benefits of eating plant-based have become very known by consumers,” said Peters. “We are certainly seeing more and more flexitarian people choosing plant-based for some meals as awareness is continuing to gain momentum.”
Thundow highlighted the dual impact of wellness and sustainability. “Personal wellness and the planet’s wellness really encapsulate those two mega trends,” she said. These twin motivators underpin the growth of plant-based foods, particularly in high-income markets.
According to Peters, SPINS data show that sustainability concerns are much more important to younger millennials and Gen Z consumers, which is also fuelling a broadening of product development to foods aimed at even younger generations: “With young millennials now starting to have families, they may be interested in packing more plant-based items in their kids' lunch boxes.”
The move to clean-label products is a defining feature of the current generation of plant-based products. Consumers increasingly scrutinise ingredient lists, favouring short, recognisable, and minimally processed formulations.
“Consumers want things with simple ingredients and fewer ingredients,” said Peters. “No pesticides, no everything else. Transparency becomes so important, allowing consumers to prioritise what matters most to them.”
At Planted Foods, Zychowski’s team has prioritised minimalism in their formulations. “We have some of the shortest [ingredient lists] in the industry, never using any E-numbers,” she said.
Planted Foods also excludes methylcellulose, a plant-based synthetic compound with useful functional properties that has faced scrutiny in recent years. With some consumers seeing this as an unnatural ingredient that could be linked to inflammation and harm the gut microbiome, brands like Planted Foods find that they can stand out by avoiding it.
Thundow noted that consumers also seek traceability. “Front-of-pack labelling is really an important strategy in terms of educating consumers around some of those ingredients,” she said. “QR codes can help tell the story of the sourcing of those products and where they’re coming from.”
The next plant-based frontier for Zychowski and the Planted team is the creation of ‘whole meat’ products like steaks that contain few ingredients – with Planted Steak consisting only of water, pea protein, pea fibre, rapeseed oil, salt, and vitamin B12. To make the most of those limited raw materials, Planted invests in companies that can deliver new low-energy processing techniques like high-moisture extrusion that can deliver meat-like properties.
“At Planted we tailor all of our processes around our formulation. We create a continuous feedback loop between the two and we believe this is crucial for our success, because we know that specific reactions are highly dependent on our protein functionality and our processing conditions,” Zychowski explained.
She added that if brands want to be successful in the plant-based space and have formulations with short ingredient lists, they “need to create this continuous feedback loop”.
Fermentation is another technique that gives plant-based manufacturers the ability to create clean label products, but the costs can be prohibitive.
Looking at the next generation of processing and technologies, Peters warned that some emerging solutions will take time and care to reach widespread acceptance. “Consumers in the US are very anxious about new technologies [like cell culture and precision fermentation],” she said. “There's a lot of work to be done to get consumers comfortable. It's going to be a delicate message to figure out how to get that just right.”
The panel stressed that taste and texture remain critical in ensuring consumers continue purchasing plant-based products. Flexitarian consumers, in particular, expect plant-based formulations to replicate the sensory experience of meat.
“If the taste and texture aren’t there, then that’s something of a turnoff for consumers,” said Thundow. “Doesn’t matter how clean the product is.”
Nutrition is another priority. Peters noted a surge in products with high protein content. This macro trend – consumer demand for protein – is also demonstrated by SPINS data on the sales of protein supplements and meal replacements, which saw double-digit growth in 2023 and 2022
Zychowski acknowledged the complexity of balancing these elements. “We have 700 different ingredients in our library, and we characterise the different ingredients to know, okay, this ingredient, we can use it in this type of formulation,” she said. “It is quite hard to create those types of products... you’re going to have to invest in R&D.”
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