19 Apr 2025 Against price odds, the desire for natural protein sees egg sales surge
Food culture is strong. Businesses who ignore it usually meet an unhappy fate. That reality is particularly important to embrace if you are thinking of creating a totally new, technology-led proposition.… [great editorial from Julian Mellentin of New Nutrition Business, a brilliant thinktank!]
An idea that has been promoted over the last year by some in the food industry is that one consequence of the spread of bird flu is that it would lead to egg shortages, the price of eggs would rise and consumers would buy fewer eggs.
That, argued the almost-always-wrong cheerleaders of alternative proteins, would lead to a surge in demand for plant-based alternatives. The reality is, of course, quite different.
Egg boom no surprise
In the US market the price of eggs has surged. In the month of January 2025, according to Circana supermarket sales data analysed by fresh food industry experts 210 Analytics, the price of eggs was up 67% compared to the year before.
But sales of eggs did not fall. The sales value of the egg category jumped by 73% to $2-billion in the month.
As for the volume of eggs sold, not only did this not fall, it actually increased by 4.1%. This follows on from a 1.7% increase in the volume of eggs sold in 2024, another year of double-digit price increases.
It’s the opposite of what you might expect. But, looking at food culture and the evolution of consumer beliefs and behaviours, it’s not too surprising. Consumer interest in animal protein has become the biggest growth trend in our industry (see NNB 10 Key Trends 2025).
Eggs are an easy go-to for consumers because:
1. They are a natural, unprocessed source of protein.
2. Consumer fears about their cholesterol and fat content have been gradually fading over the past 15 years (and in case you didn’t know, there is a very good scientific basis for that change).
3. Eggs are starting to be better known among health-forward consumers as a source of multiple nutrients beyond protein.
4. Eggs have a strong place in every food culture and are used in familiar, good-tasting dishes from snacks to main meals.
5. Eggs are versatile; there’s a huge variety of ways they can be used in the kitchen.
Quiet consumer shift
These strong points for consumers are equally true for other traditional animal proteins, led by dairy protein and with red meat now also experiencing sales growth.
There has been a quiet shift in consumer preferences over the last two to three years and particularly in 2024. That shift is seeing a collapse in demand for dairy and meat alternatives and a surge in sales of “real” animal proteins.
Why so? Because alternatives fail on the five points above. And that failure cannot be remedied in this decade (or even in the next one).
If you want to make your business succeed, ignore what you read in the media and what the big consulting firms and university academics say. Instead immerse yourself in understanding food culture and the details of consumers’ beliefs and motivations.
Source: New Nutrition Business, March 2025 issue
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