Plant-based proteins are experiencing tremendous growth, cites a new report by Meticulous Research. According to the research, the category will exceed $10 billion by 2022, growing at 6.7% over the next five years.
“The plant based protein market is driven by increasing awareness about the benefits of protein and growing demand for protein rich diet, growing health & wellness trend, increasing consumers’ focus on meat alternatives, growing demand from food & beverage industry, and various advancements in ingredient technologies such as microencapsulation,” Meticulous Research noted in a press release today.
The report notes that the already well-established and inexpensive soy protein holds the largest share of the global plant-based protein for now, but there are numerous other meat alternatives making waves in the category like pea protein, wheat, beans, and lentils, mostly experiencing growth due to “increasing consumer preference for plant based foods and ingredients, growing awareness and demand for protein rich food products, versatile functionality of these proteins, compatibility with vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, and rising clean label trend.”
North America (mainly U.S. and Canada) currently make up the largest market for alternative proteins, “due to its well established food and beverage industry, rising concerns over animal products and protein, increasing vegan population, growing preference to meat alternatives, increasing demand for healthy & nutritional products, and health & wellness trend.” But the report also notes that Asia Pacific should also see exponential growth within the next five years.
