Respondents cited health, animal welfare, and environmental concerns as primary motivations for reducing their meat consumption.

More than half of Brits are willing to swap meat with plant-based alternatives, according to research by  Appinio.

The research platform surveyed 1000 British adults of which 69% identified themselves as omnivores. 11.4% said they were flexitarian, 8.7% vegetarian, 5.4% pescatarian and 4% vegan.

The survey, which was conducted to gauge attitudes towards plant-based products found that health (46.3%), curiosity (45.2%), animal welfare (30.9%), and environmental concerns (30.1%) were the biggest motivators for people to consider replacing meat in their diets.

64% of people said they bought vegan products within the past year with meat alternatives and plant milks topping the list.

The ones who didn’t buy plant-based products said it was due to their texture, taste, and comparatively high prices.

However, in reply to a survey question of whether they would consider replacing some of the meat in their diets with plant-based alternatives, 51% said they would consider swapping at least some of the meat while 7% said they wanted to ditch mitch entirely.

The survey also asked participants whether they had heard of cell-cultured meat. 49% replied in the negative.

Of those who were aware of it, 54.3% said they couldn’t imagine having cultured meat while 41% said they would be willing to substitute it for some of the meat they currently eat.

Plant-based trend

Jacqueline Junke is the UK Market Lead at Appinio. She said: “We’ve identified the plant-based and cultured food industry as a key one to monitor consumer behaviour in.

“Combining health and environmental concerns, we were keen to see the attitudes amongst Brits and were not surprised to see such high numbers considering switching parts of their diet to plant-based alternatives, often with the belief it is healthier.”

Other studies

Another study conducted by Upfield in July found that more than two-thirds (68%) of British people have considered, or would be open to considering, a switch to a vegan diet.

The leading motivator for more than a third of the respondents, in this case, was health followed by 28%, who wanted to reduce their environmental impact, and a quarter wanted to contribute to animal welfare.

Damian Guha, general manager of Upfield UK and Ireland, said: “It is great to see so many people in the UK interested in eating more plant-based food. The benefits, as the research highlights, are numerous. From getting a more balanced diet to reducing your impact on the environment, eating more plant-focused food can have brilliant results for you and the world around you.”

In May, research by The Vegan Society showed that one in four Brits cut back on the animal products they were consuming since the start of the pandemic.

It found that 19.5% of participants had reduced meat consumption since the start of the UK lockdown.

12.3% admitted to eating less dairy and/or eggs and 6.9% said they’d reduced both meat and other animal products.

Of the ones who had reduced their animal product consumption, 35% were primarily motivated by health concerns whereas 30% cited environmental reasons as their main motivation and one in four said it was because of animal welfare.

• Read: UK urged to back artificial meat in fight against climate crisis

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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