While price plays a role in preventing consumers from purchasing plant-based proteins, other factors are also at play, according to a new study by Simon Fraser University.
The study, Plant-based protein foods are less sensitive to price changes than animal-based ones, with differences across income and education levels, which was published in the Communications Sustainability journal, analysed more than 87,000 shopping baskets across Canada and Finland, as well as tracking loyalty card data from around 58,000 Canadian shoppers and 29,000 Finnish shoppers over a two-year period.
As the study found, consumers reduced purchases when prices increased, no matter if said products were animal-based or plant-based. However, it also found that meat purchases were found to be more sensitive to price changes than plant-based alternatives.
‘More complicated’
“Price has often been described as a major barrier to buying plant-based foods, but our data suggests the relationship is more complicated,” commented Cameron McRae, lead author of the study.
Other findings from the study include that lower-income households were generally more sensitive to food price fluctuations, however the gap between higher and lower socioeconomic groups was smaller for plant-based products than for animal-based products.
This is partly driven by product variety, the study found, with the authors calling for more competitive pricing between animal- and plant-based options.
“With meat, shoppers can usually trade down when prices are higher, choosing ground beef instead of steak, for example,” McRae added. “If there are only two or three plant-based options on the shelf, consumers who want those products have fewer cheaper alternatives to switch to. If sustainability is the goal, plant-based foods can’t remain a premium option.”
Plant-based purchasing
Discounts on plant-based purchases could also enable more shoppers to ‘green up’ their trolleys, while switching meat for legumes a couple of times a week can also enable shoppers to save money, if they are willing to make the switch.
“One-to-one substitution, like plant-based cheese instead of dairy cheese, are often where grocery bills increase. Whole foods tell a very different story,” said McRae. “If people focus less on highly processed plant-based substitutes and more on whole foods like beans, lentils and peas, a plant-forward diet can actually be less expensive overall.” Read more here.
