Plant-Based Meat Soon To Be Cheaper Than Animal Meat (2024)

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Plant-Based Meat Soon To Be Cheaper Than Animal Meat? ›

According to new data from the charity Good Food Institute (GFI), the cost of plant-based meat is expected to equal that of regular animal meat by 2023.

Research in 2022 suggested that the price gap between meat products and plant-based analogues is narrowing​, and even in occasional cases, and in some markets, is cheaper than meat​. However, cost remains a significant factor.

Plant-based beef alternatives are more expensive than beef because of production costs. Even though the plant-based beef industry uses less grain to create its products than what gets used for livestock feed, the scale is much smaller. This leads to higher costs, which get passed to consumers.

As prices of meat alternatives have gone up, this masks a much greater drop in unit sales over the same time period—they fell by 26 percent between 2021 and 2023. One big challenge in the US is the price of plant-based alternatives.

As some plant-based meat and mock meat products are created to replicate animal meat, they may undergo more processing. This leads to a high content of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar.

Is a vegan diet really expensive? Honestly, it doesn't have to be. A study by Oxford University discovered that plant-based eating is actually the most affordable diet. It also found that a vegan diet reduced food costs by up to one-third due to the use of whole foods over meat and meat replacements.

Right now, plant-based meat represents about one-quarter of one percent of the meat market, but that is about to change, and smart investors like Bill Gates and Tyson Foods are getting in on the ground floor. Indeed, Lux Research predicts that by 2054, plant-based meat will command one-third of the global meat market.

“Impossible [Foods] exacerbated Beyond's problems by entering the grocery channel at significantly lower price points. Beyond was forced to reduce price to match Impossible, but consumers seemed to prefer Impossible's taste and texture.”

Now, Beyond Meat has seen a further decline in its Q1 2024 earnings statement. With an 18% decline in net revenue compared with Q1 last year, from $92.2m (€85.48m) then and $75.6 today, the company has fallen short of expectations.

“Reaching price parity comes down to scale… Making the plant-based meat supply chain more efficient and more resilient to risks can result in lower costs for the manufacturer—and ultimately, more affordability for the consumer,” said Emma Ignaszewski, Corporate Engagement Project Manager at GFI.

Why is Beyond Meat losing so much money? ›

In the first quarter of 2024, Beyond Meat's revenue fell 18% from a year ago to $75.6 million, as lower sales volumes in both the U.S. and international markets weighed on results. Price per pound has also come down from last year as the company offers more discounts to attract consumers.

The additional processing involved in plant-based meats means that they generate 4.6 times more greenhouse gas than beans, and seven times more than peas, per unit of protein, according to the Hopkins researchers.

Other than the protein, there is very little nutritional value in the Beyond Meat patty. Whereas a 100% grass fed beef patty, not only contains a high amount of protein, but is also loaded with vitamin B12, vitamin E, heme iron (a more bioavailable source), creatine, zinc, omega-3 fats, and others.

Plant-based meat alternatives often contain more sodium than animal meats—in some examples up to six times more—and some of them contain added sugars, artificial coloring, and controversial additives like carrageenan and methylcellulose, which are bulking agents.

“In reality, plants often harbor high levels of foodborne pathogens and, as such, plant-based burgers should be considered and handled just like for example, raw ground beef,” said Luchansky's research partner Anna Porto-Fett, microbiologist at ERRC.

Sales dropped 12% since 2022 and by 13% since 2021, standing at $1.2 billion in 2023. Unit sales growth of plant-based meat and seafood were down 19% on 2022 and 26% on 2021 at 215 million units.

Whole-Food Plant-Based is Inherently the Cheapest Healthy Way to Eat.

Beef alternatives offer biggest impact

The impact is most striking when it comes to beef alternatives, which use up to 99% less land and water than the equivalent animal product. Greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by up to 90%, and eutrophication potential by up to 91%.

When dealing with carbon emissions alone, they are up to 120 times more carbon efficient than meat products. A recent 2021 study found that plant-based patties have a 77% smaller climate change burden than beef patties, with reduced land and water use, eutrophication, and acidification.