Top trends shaping plant-based meat and dairy in 2025
The plant-based sector hasnât had an easy ride in recent years. After the meteoric rise of alternative meat and dairy, both categories have taken a hit. Weâve seen reduced sales, a lack of investment, ultra-processed food stigma, and a number of companies go bust.
But like all new sectors, when challenges arise, companies pivot. Weâre now noticing a marked shift in plant-based product development, and thatâs just one of the trends shaping the future of alt meat and dairy.
Hybrid meat and dairy back on the menuPlant-based pioneer Impossible Foods sent shocks through the sector when its CEO Peter McGuinness revealed heâd be open to launching a hybrid meat and plant-based burger.
McGuinness told the Wall Street Journal that if Impossible were to capture a âsizeable portionâ of the flexitarian market with hybrids, it could quadruple the companyâs revenue.
The idea of blending meat with plant-based ingredients isnât new. But blended products havenât always hit the mark with consumers. Weâve seen BrewDog and Tyson Foods, amongst others, launch hybrid meat products, and then take them off the market.
Hybrid hasn’t always won with consumers, but that could be changing. (PlanetDairy)Now, weâre seeing a resurgence of all things hybrid. In the Netherlands, retailer Albert Heijn has made a real push into blended products, introducing 15 new offerings that combine meat and dairy with plant-based ingredients. On the meat side of things, new products include sausages and deli meats combined with ingredients such as faba and butter beans. In dairy, the retailer is selling hybrid milk â thanks to a tie-up between Farm Dairy and PlanetDairy.
Hybrid cheese is another category thatâs gaining momentum, with PlanetDairy, Kerry, and St Paul all getting involved.
There are clear benefits associated with hybrid meat and dairy. Compared to 100% meat or dairy, they are associated with fewer carbon emissions and often contain less problematic nutrients like saturated fats. They could also perform better on taste and texture than pure plant-based alternatives, and may help bring the price down for consumers; Albert Heijn is launching its new line of blended products at the same price as their conventional counterparts.
Private label on the rise â is affordability king?Price remains an important factor when it comes to plant-based sales. Initially seen as premium products, plant-based meat and dairy was priced accordingly â and for a while, consumers were happy to pay.
But now shoppers want better value, and theyâre getting it through private label. According to retail sales data from Circana, thereâs been a rise in plant-based private label products in France, Germany, Italy and Spain between 2022 and 2024.
The Good Food Institute (GFI) Europe, a proponent of alt meat and dairy, believes these more affordable options are playing a significant role in taking plant-based foods to the mainstream. Data from NIQ suggests that almost half of households in Spain, 37% in Germany and 32% in the UK bought plant-based milk at least once last year. More than a fifth of households in Spain and nearly a third in Germany and the UK purchased plant-based meat.
Itâs not all good news for plant-based manufacturers, however. Between 2022 and 2024, branded sales dropped by 8.3%. But across six plant-based categories, private label options grew by 6.8%.
In some regions, branded products have outperformed private label in smaller categories such as plant-based cheese and seafood. This suggests that price is an important factor â but not the only one. âThere is a huge potential market for sustainable and healthy plant-based foods, and companies have a real opportunity to reach more people by developing tastier, nutritious and affordable products that can fit their lifestyles,â says GFI Europeâs senior market and consumer insights manager Helen Breewood.
Plant-based, but not meatyFor a while now, weâve been wondering whether future growth in animal-free categories lies in meat mimicry, or just plant-based â full stop. New brands are hitting the shelves with more traditional plant-based offerings, such as tofu or tempeh.
Although the market for plant-based ingredients appears strong, it hasnât yet overtaken products that mimic meat. According to GFI Europe, UK consumers bought 35.8m kg of plant-based meat in 2024, compared to just 11.9m kg of tofu, tempeh, seitan, and vegetable-based products such as bean burgers.
Also read â Beans get bold: Meet the challenger brand disrupting pulsesBut just because these products arenât outperforming meat mimicry on sales, doesnât mean itâs not an emerging trend. Some consumers are seeking more plant-forward options that offer excitement in their own right, believes Givaudan. The ingredients supplier is seeing a new wave of innovation come to market thatâs plant-based, but not meaty. The target market is likely made up of adventurous flexitarians.
‘New’ plant-based ingredients are hitting shelves, including traditional products like tofu and tempeh. (Getty Images / Danikancil)Recent examples of plant-based offerings on shelves that purposefully do not mimic meat include the classics, like tofu and tempeh, but also innovative products like Vegâchop in the UK â a plant-based food made from a blend of pulses, seeds and vegetables, such as lentils, sweet potato and quinoa.
Consolidation in the plant (and fungi) worldConsolidation is a natural phase in the evolution of a new category. But it could be that plant-based has seen more than most.
The biggest of late is undoubtedly Unileverâs sale of The Vegetarian Butcher to JBS-owned Vivera, as part of the FMCGâs portfolio clear-out.
Other, smaller acquisitions have also taken place, including VFC Foodsâ purchase of Meatless Farm, and Valio spin-out Oddlygoodâs acquisition of plant-based milk maker Rude Health.
Veering slightly out of the plant-based world and into the fungi kingdom, just last month Libre Foods announced it was being bought by Planetary SA. The fermentation-focused buyer is taking ownership of Libre Foodsâ core brand (the start-up makes fungi-based bacon alternatives), as well as commercial agreements, intellectual property, and generated know-how.
All this movement suggests that the plant-based meat and dairy industry is far from stagnant. Whether itâs legacy brands being absorbed by global players or start-ups aligning with experts in their field, it could be that consolidation makes for a more resilient future for alternative proteins.
