"Plant-based burgers were supposed to help wean Americans off their environmentally ruinous appetite for meat. But sales have plummeted amid a surging pro-meat trend embraced by the Trump administration, raising a key question will vegetarianism ever take hold in the US? This year has been a punishing one for the plant-based meat sector, led by companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, with sales of refrigerated products slumping 17%."
"This follows a difficult 2024, during which sales fell 7%, furthering a multi-year spiral last year Americans purchased 75m fewer units of plant-based meat than they did in 2022. Despite hopes that burgers, sausages and chicken made from soy, peas and beans would curb Americans' love of eating butchered animals thereby reducing the rampant deforestation, water pollution and planet-heating emissions involved in raising livestock these alternatives languish at just 1% of the total meat market in the US."
Plant-based burger sales have declined sharply, with refrigerated product sales down 17% this year and a 7% drop in 2024. Americans purchased 75 million fewer units of plant-based meat in 2024 than in 2022. Plant-based alternatives account for only 1% of the US meat market despite initial hopes to reduce deforestation, water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. A renewed pro-meat trend has emerged, driven by industry lobbyists, online wellness influencers promoting higher protein diets like the carnivore diet, and political support from the Trump administration. Beyond Meat's valuation and stock price have collapsed amid rising meat consumption.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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