UNITED STATES – Nielsen, a leading research company has conducted a study and compiled data that indicates that plant-based food sales in the United States have risen by 8.1% in the last 12 months.

The data showed that overall food sales in the US have fallen by 0.2% this year, but the sales of plant-based products hadn’t been affected. They experienced 20% growth, topping 700million in sales over the same period.

The plant-based milk category rose by 3.1% while cow’s milk sales were down by 5%. It now accounts for nearly 10% of all milk sales in the USA.

Plant Based Foods Association executive director Michele Simon said: “It’s exciting to see the steady growth of the plant-based foods industry.

With this new baseline data, we have a solid foundation for this young industry to grow each year.”

The Good Food Institute executive director Bruce Friedrich added: “There is a revolution going on in the plant-based meat space. Right now, the sector is small, but growing, and we are working hard to create a viable market sector.

“It is especially impressive to see that all the plant-based companies are working cooperatively, because a rising tide will lift all boats.”

Plant-based meat alternatives that account for more than 2 per cent of total frozen and refrigerated meat products in the US had also grown by 6 per cent.

The biggest increase in the meat sales was in the refrigerated section of sales, where consumers bought 23 per cent more than the previous year, 2016.

Executive director of the Plant Based Foods Association, Michel Simon added that ‘It is exciting to see the steady growth of the plant-based foods industry.’

She said there is a ‘solid foundation’ for the industry to keep growing.

Bruce Friedrich, executive director of The Good Food Institute, said, ‘[t]here is a revolution going in the plant-based meat space.’

He concludes that ‘[i]t is especially impressive to see that all the plant-based companies are working cooperatively, because a rising tide will lift all boats.’

The Plant Based Foods Association is a trade body representing 80 US plant-based food companies.