Sales of plant-based meat alternatives are booming in the United States with shoppers changing their shopping habits amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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Life has changed drastically for the majority of us over the past few weeks, with many shoppers panic buying and stockpiling groceries leaving supermarket shelves empty.
In the US, consumers have been increasingly opting to purchase plant-based meat alternatives over animal meat with a report by market data company Nielsen revealing that vegan meat sales in the US soared by 279.8 percent amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Encouragingly, the data shows that these meat-free products have rapidly increased in demand with sales of fresh plant-based meats increasing by 279.8 percent before March 14 compared to the previous year.
Cooked vegan meats have also seen a rise in demand with sales increasing by 27.1 percent for the week ending March 7, rising to 84.6 percent in the following week.
In comparison, sales of chicken in the US saw much slower growth, rising by 4.5 percent and 51.8 percent over the same period.
According to market data released earlier this year by the Good Food Institute and the Plant Based Foods Association, the plant-based meat market is now worth an impressive $939 million with more people than ever before opting to eat a more plant-based diet for their health.
