A new report charts the huge success of plant-based milk and shows how consumers around the world are transitioning from dairy milk. Almost 50% of people in the US and Europe consume both plant milk and cow’s milk — or plant milk only — and this number increases to 66% for consumers in Asia Pacific and Latin America who use plant milk regularly.
A comprehensive analysis in the “Plant Milk Report” produced by ProVeg International based in Germany www.proveg.com, cites a wide range of scientific evidence and market data to show why and how plant milk is winning over consumers and taking supermarket shelf-space by storm.
“Plant milk is the top selling product in the entire plant-based-alternatives sector …. and has a much smaller ecological footprint than cow’s milk,” the report says. It is also leading the growing trend favouring plant-based foods over those derived from animals.
There are a variety of reasons for the success of these foods including: their much improved taste and convenience (due to their wider availability); mounting concern fueled by growing evidence of the link between the environmental impacts of livestock industries and the climate crisis; and, questions concerning the human health impacts of meat and dairy products. There are many studies linking these products to higher rates of heart disease, certain cancers and Type 2 diabetes.
Plant milk has actually been around a long time and is a traditional drink in many cultures. The report highlights its long history in Europe and Asia. Also, up to 75% of the global adult population is lactose intolerant. So, for health and cultural reasons soy, coconut and rice milks have been a traditional food in Asia for centuries while in Europe almond milk dates back to the Middle Ages. All of these factors are driving increased consumption of plant milk in global markets.
The trend is helped by the fact that plant milk is easy to substitute and is being widely adopted for drinking, cooking and baking, and for use in coffee, tea and on cereals. Source ingredients include soy, peanuts, oats, rice, almonds, coconuts and even hemp and lupins. The milks are usually fortified with calcium and vitamins such as B-12, come in flavours like vanilla and chocolate, and contain no lactose or cholesterol.
“More and more consumers want to eat sustainably and are asking critical questions about the production of their food,” the report says. So, the environmental impact of the dairy industry specifically is a significant factor in this trend. The UN FAO reports that animal agriculture is responsible for 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, larger than all transportation emissions globally. And 62% of those emissions come from the dairy and beef industries in roughly equal amounts.
“Globally, the top 20 meat and dairy corporations combined produce more GHG emissions than the whole of Germany,” the largest GHG emitter in Europe, the report says. This is one of the reasons that numerous prestigious scientific studies are calling for major reductions in the amount of dairy and meat eaten by people in richer nations as a way to reduce their carbon footprints. The trend to plant milk is playing an important role in that solution.
The report shows that plant milk production does not involve antibiotics, hormones, or manure that cause water, air and soil pollution, or involve any animal welfare issues. The report cites the study by Poore and Nemecek published in the Journal “Science” in 2018 showing the different footprints of cow’s milk and plant milk. As you can see from the chart, all plant milks have a much smaller environmental footprint than cow’s milk measured by GHG emissions and land use. However, there are some small differences among plant milks in this regard as shown by the charts below. For example, almond milk has the lowest GHG footprint but uses the most water in the plant milk category. Oat and soy milk have the smallest water footprint.
Source: “Plant Milk Report”, ProVeg International.
Source: “Plant Milk Report”, ProVeg International.
So, if you are feeling overwhelmed by the scope of the climate crisis and wondering what you as an individual can do, try plant milk in that next cup of coffee or bowl of cereal. You might find it tastes just as good and you will be helping put the brakes on the global climate crisis.