Report: 74% of American Consumers Are Interested in Blended Meat

A new report by NECTAR, a philanthropic initiative working to accelerate the protein transition with taste, has found that 74% of US consumers surveyed are interested or extremely interested in blended meat products.

Blended meat (also referred to as “plant-rich meat”) consists of a combination of conventional animal meat and plant-based protein. 51% of omnivorous consumers said sustainability was their biggest interest driver in blended meat, while 47% cited health. Products with a 50/50 mix of plant-based and animal-based ingredients were perceived to be the most appealing.

Interestingly, plant-based nuggets outperformed conventional chicken nuggets in blind taste tests conducted as part of the report, while animal-based products remained in the lead in most categories. However, when consumers were given blended meat burgers, they rated them more highly than meat-based or plant-based burgers.

The report evaluates over 50 sensory attributes for 22 blended meat products, comparing them to plant-based and animal-based benchmarks. According to NECTAR, this makes it “the largest publicly available sensory analysis of plant-rich meat products”. It is a follow-up to the initiative’s inaugural sensory analysis, Taste of the Industry 2024, which revealed significant taste potential for blended plant-based burgers.

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