Meat+Poultry - April 2019 - 68

R E TA I L T R E N D S

is important, flexitarians are very interested
in production claims and are very concerned
about animal welfare and the impact of
agriculture on the environment. Roerink
said these topics are a great avenue to
conversations with consumers about initiatives
launched in the meat and poultry industry that
address these issues and concerns.
"If I had to put it in political terms, I'd have
to say these are our 'swing voters,'" Roerink
said. "These are folks that are attracted by
a plant-based lifestyle, but they still want to
include meat into their diet a little bit. So, let's
make sure we talk to them about everything
good about meat and poultry to make sure we
move them more to our camp rather than going
off to the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle."

KITCHEN INSPIRATION

Anne-Marie Roerink details
the results of the Power of
Meat study each year at the
Annual Meat Conference.

MEAT+ POULTRY | 04.19 | www.meatpoultry.com

Food Marketing Institute

68

channels alone, compared with $878 million
in annual sales generated by the plant-based
meat alternatives segment. Meat also enjoys a
household penetration of 98.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the combined share of
shoppers identifying as vegetarian or vegan
has remained steady at roughly 5 percent. It's
important to note, however, that health was the
top reason given for following a vegetarian or
vegan diet among 56 percent of respondents.
Other important reasons given included
wanting to avoid antibiotics, hormones
and chemicals and associating meat with
major illnesses.
That's where flexitarians - which the
Power of Meat defines as eating a mostly
vegetarian diet but occasionally eating
meat - loom large in the meat and poultry
consumption picture, with 10 percent of
respondents identifying as flexitarian.
A growing number of consumers in
the younger demographics are adopting
a flexitarian lifestyle. Thirteen percent of
Generation Z consumers reported following
a flexitarian diet versus just 6 percent of
older boomers, according to the Power of
Meat. "Millennials and Gen X each average 10
percent. Women, at 15 percent, are also more
likely to be flexitarians than men, at 6 percent,"
the study said.
While reducing their meat consumption

Clues to increasing consumption of meat and
poultry can be found in consumers' sources for
meal inspiration. Most respondents (74 percent)
in the Power of Meat cited routine meals, those
go-to recipes that get a familiar dish on the table
fast, as the main source for inspiration.
"I think our challenge there is how do we
make routine into something a little bit more
exciting," Roerink said.
Inspiration is everywhere - family/friends
came next at 47 percent of respondents; recipe
websites (39 percent); cookbooks (32 percent)
and TV shows (31 percent) rounded out the
top five sources of meal inspiration for survey
respondents. But generational differences were
significant when inspiration came from social
media platforms.
"One-quarter of the total population use
two to four social media platforms," according
to the Power of Meat. "Among Gen Z, 42
percent use two to four platforms versus just
8 percent among boomers. Younger shoppers
are also more likely to draw inspiration from
family and friends. With a high likelihood of
younger children, kid-focused recipes could be
a promising angle."
Roerink said shoppers who use multiple
social media platforms as inspiration for meal
planning cooked and shopped very differently
compared to shoppers who used other sources
for inspiration. She said, "A lot of them
were already involved in online shopping,
for instance. They had a higher interest in
branded items."
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