Plant-based But the first step is holding the buyers that need to be held, the heavy buyers. If only 19% of the U.S. popula-tion is buying meat alternatives right now, that’s a knowable and findable group. If I think about the marketing efforts right now, it’s locking in on the frozen space to get the product offer-ing right. Those are the two big things that I think need to start. You’ve said in the past that younger consumers seek out greater variety, are more willing to sample new items. That would seem to bode well for alt-meat sales over the long term that hasn’t shown up in the U.S. numbers. And yet, is there something else underlying the demographic trends that needs to be understood? DuBOIS: I’d say the idea of that’s right. Millennials in particular and Gen Z are looking for the flavor and the texture and have the willingness to ex-plore. But what’s really important is the texture and the eating experience all the way through. Part of that’s saying the flavor could be right but if the eat-ing experience isn’t all of what they’re looking for, that’s going to be the kind of the deciding factor on the purchase. I think the other one is, we’ve seen a big change on the ingredient panels in terms of cleaning up some of the lon-ger ingredient lines out there. That’s a big deal. Alt-Meat: Looking at a more macro level and over a longer period of time, we are seeing shifting demographics. The baby boomers are exiting the mar-ket, and the millennial and Gen Z shop-pers are moving up in their careers. They’re making more money and they are starting to have kids to spend it on. Alt-Meat: I want to ask more about the ingredient panels, because alter-native meats by and large have no way of existing without being dumped into the ultra-processed food category. A lot of the objectionable ingredients are, in fact, perfectly innocent and have been around for generations. So why is it that a clean ingredient panel is such a selling point? DuBOIS: I’m not a food scientist, so WE CREATE AND MANUFACTURE INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR PRODUCTS. Our expert culinary and food science team is ready to help develop your customized ingredient system based on your food challenges. AFS continues to improve new and innovative texture and avor systems necessary to create your next plant-based seafood, beef, poultry or pork product. Ingredients can be tailored to meet customer requirements & t current processing lines. AFS Products for Plant-Based Applications: • VegeBind® -complete texture, binding and avor systems for plant-based products that provide binding during processing and thermal gelling during cooking. • VegeGel -provides cold viscosity to assist with binding during forming, stung or extrusion of various plant-based products made with hydrated TVP while producing meat like textures when cooked. • SeasonRite® Seasonings -o er unique vegetarian avors & seasonings that compliment your nished product. Contact us to nd the best product for your application. Alt-Meat February 2025 (800) 787-3067 | (732) 873-6776 www.afsnj.com AdvancedFoodSystems 33
Alt-Meat February 2025: Page 33
