The health and wellness trend has experienced huge growth over the past decade. This has led to a sharp rise in consumer demand for products that provide benefits beyond taste and texture, and a new is the focus on functionality and ‘naturalness’.
Classed as ultra-processed foods, plant-based meat alternatives have fallen foul of this trend and sales have suffered as a result.
However, major plant-based meat brand Moving Mountains is leaning hard into natural ingredients with its new ‘superfood’ range.
Normally known for its plant-based burgers and mince, it’s now releasing a new range which includes falafel.
Targeting a new trend
Moving Mountains’ new range targets the consumer desire for ‘superfoods’, explains marketing assistant Strath Brown. According to the brand, each portion contains between 12 and 14 vegetables.
The range has been in the works for two years, he explains, and is a direct response to the brand’s conversations with its customers and partners.
“We are finding more and more consumers are focusing on a balanced diet and opting to add more wholefoods ingredients to diversify what they consume,” says Brown.
Hand-in-hand with a desire for more wholefood ingredients is scepticism about processing.
“We have noticed a lot of scepticism about the processing of our food, and while we use many natural ingredients in our original range, the ingredients are further refined and flavoured to replicate the meat alternative.”
The brand’s new range leans much more into whole foods. This means that products such as falafel, which many consumers will not think of as a “meat alternative” but simply a vegetarian product, are included alongside ‘crispy’ burgers.
The range aims to “challenge” consumers’ perceptions around what plant-based food is, according to Brown.
Producing these products includes several steps such as removal of inedible or unwanted parts, drying, crushing, grinding, filtering, and boiling.
“This level of processing is common in food production, including in products that don’t receive as much scrutiny as the plant based industry faces,” explains Brown.
The next phase of the range will be a focus on spicy products, driven by a demand for “extra flavour options”.
A focus on nutrition
In the past, meat alternatives have been focused on being as similar to meat as possible, at least in terms of taste and texture. However, much of the scepticism around them has stemmed from the fact that many consumers don’t believe this similarity extends to nutritional quality.
The superfood range is squarely focused on nutrition, with products containing vitamins and mineral including zinc, magnesium, iron, and vitamin E. Furthermore, the range focuses on gut health.
