With alt-meat industry leaders moving away from imitation products, while tofu and tempeh continue to perform strongly, the shift toward more ‘natural’ proteins may signal a contraction in the meat alternatives market – and the start of a new era for plant-based. Could the era of meat mimicking be coming to an end? The Plant Base’s editor, Melissa Bradshaw, explores.

The journey to 2025

Meat alternatives – products that offer a meat-free version of animal-based proteins, often designed to replicate a specific meat – have been around longer than many might expect.

Take tofu and tempeh, for example. Still a staple in many homes today, these soya-based plant protein powerhouses have been around for centuries. Among the earliest meat alternatives, they were used as a protein source in vegetarian and vegan dishes, originating in East and Southeast Asia.

Nowadays, tofu and tempeh aren’t generally seen as meat imitations – they’re enjoyed for their own unique qualities. But many alternative proteins developed more recently have followed a clear trajectory: mimicking meat became the ultimate goal.

Commercially developed meat alternatives date back as early as the late 19th century, when John Harvey Kellogg introduced ‘Protose’. Made primarily from wheat gluten and nuts, it was positioned as a versatile meat substitute designed to match both the taste and nutritional profile of meat.

Fungi protein specialist Quorn is also recognised as an early innovator, entering the market in the 1980s with its mycoprotein-based meat substitutes. Although development began in the 1960s, the first products – two savoury meat-style pies – didn’t reach supermarket shelves until 1985, after the mycoprotein ingredient received regulatory approval.

Since then, manufacturers have made significant strides in creating juicy, meat-like textures and flavours. Start-ups like Beyond Meat and Impossible burst onto the scene in the 2010s, and sales of hyper-realistic, ‘bleeding’ plant-based burgers and steaks soared.

Ingredient innovation, along with technologies such as modern fermentation and 3D printing, redefined meat alternatives in the early 2020s – some of which are now almost indistinguishable from their animal-based counterparts. “It was so realistic I had to check with the waiter that it wasn’t actually meat,” is a phrase I’ve often heard from diners impressed by plant-based burgers or steaks from the likes of Beyond and Redefine Meat.

With taste and texture vastly improved, and many products offering a good source of protein, fibre (absent in traditional meat), and lower salt and saturated fat, meat alternatives must be flying off the shelves in 2025, right?

Not quite.

The pushback

Awareness of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) – products defined by their level of industrial processing and the use of synthetic additives not found in a home kitchen – has grown significantly in recent years.

The NOVA system, developed by researchers in Brazil, categorises foods according to their processing levels and has sparked considerable debate over which products should truly be classed as UPFs.

Unsurprisingly, products with unbalanced nutritional profiles – such as chocolate bars, biscuits and fizzy drinks – fall into this category under the NOVA definition. But so do many seemingly innocuous everyday items, like packaged wholemeal bread, as well as functional foods such as protein bars and fortified beverages. This highlights the need for nuance when discussing UPFs: equating them automatically with 'unhealthy' is far from straightforward.

Many plant-based meat alternatives also fall into this category, which has made the sector an easy target for pro-meat lobbyists, fuelling a wave of negative press in recent years surrounding the health credentials of these products.

Misinterpreted studies and fearmongering over 'ingredients you can’t pronounce' have unfairly tarnished the reputation of plant-based meats with balanced nutritional profiles, placing them into the same category as HFSS (high sugar, salt and fat) products that offer little to no essential nutrients such as protein and fibre.

According to data from the Good Food Institute (GFI), the market for plant-based meat is falling steadily in the UK – in the year to January 2025, total sales value was £333 million, a decrease of 9.7% compared to the previous year and of 15.5% compared to two years prior.

Tofu, meanwhile, saw 10% higher annual sales volume in the year to January 2025 compared to the previous year – and tempeh and seitan, though still making up a small volume of overall market sales, was 85% higher than in the previous year.

Brands like Better Nature and The Tofoo Co have been thriving. Organic tempeh brand Better Nature celebrated its best quarter yet in Q2 2025, with 128% year-over-year sales growth, while The Tofoo Co had a record year in 2024, with revenue reaching nearly £24 million – an 18.5% increase on 2023. Earlier this year, managing director Dave Knibbs said The Tofoo Co was “continuing to defy the slump seen elsewhere in the category” as it marked continued growth.

By comparison, meat analogue companies like Beyond Meat and Quorn have struggled. Beyond reported disappointing results for Q2 2025, ending 28 June, with net revenues down 19.6% year-over-year. CEO Ethan Brown noted that the figures reflect “ongoing softness in the plant-based meat category, particularly in the US retail channel and certain international foodservice markets”.

The company has recently come forward to deny rumours of bankruptcy, posting on the social media platform X: “Recent media stories suggesting that Beyond Meat filed for bankruptcy are unequivocally false. We have not filed, nor are we planning to file for bankruptcy.”

Nevertheless, Beyond has been forced to implement cost-saving measures such as workforce reduction and has appointed a restructuring expert as its chief transformation officer. It is also reportedly embarking on a rebrand and removing ‘meat’ from its name, in line with the launch of more ambiguous products that do not replicate a specific meat type.

Quorn has also faced a challenging period of sustained losses, having recently embarked on a multi-year turnaround plan – though CEO David Flochel is adamant that 2025 will be a ‘reset year’ for the company, commenting: “The challenges in the category have been well documented but we’re starting to make progress…I believe that with the right focus and strong execution, we can turn both the company and the category around.”

Is it all over for imitation products?

It’s unlikely to be that simple. While the GFI noted that widespread media concern over UPFs in the UK may partly explain the relative performance of tofu, tempeh and seitan, it added that the absolute increase in their uptake was still far smaller than the corresponding drop in plant-based meat sales.

Fear over meat alternatives being 'ultra-processed' is only part of the story. Other factors behind declining sales for brands like Beyond Meat include price differences compared with conventional processed meat or cheaper plant proteins, as well as the natural easing of the sharp, unprecedented growth seen in the late 2010s – growth that was ultimately unsustainable in the long term.

But it’s impossible to ignore the transition we’ve seen from several of the industry’s major players this year – Beyond certainly isn’t alone in developing new products that shift away from imitation.

British start-up This – known for its hyper-realistic meat alternative products such as sausages, burgers and even chicken ‘wings’ complete with ‘skin’ made from seaweed – hit the headlines in April this year with the launch of its ‘This Is Super Superfood’ product.

The ‘superfood’ block takes a different approach to plant-based protein: it doesn’t imitate meat, but instead offers a next-generation product with a unique texture and nutritional profile. Made from fava bean protein, seeds and vegetables, it delivers 18g of protein per 100g and incorporates superfoods such as flaxseed and shiitake mushrooms, making it the brand’s “most nutritious and versatile” product to date.

Moving Mountains also launched a ‘Superfood’ range in January, free from soya and gluten and made with ingredients like quinoa, peas, mushroom, courgette, lentils, chickpeas and chia seeds. The brand, which is also best known for its ‘meaty’ products, said it was responding to increasing consumer interest in gut health and nutritional awareness.

Eleanor Faragher-Siddall, marketing manager at Moving Mountains Foods, commented: “We looked at the changing industry climate and shifting market trends and saw a clear demand for healthier, convenient and nutrient-rich, plant based alternatives”.

L-R: This and Moving Mountains' new 'superfood-based' product ranges

Other brands in Europe and the US, such as Juicy Marbles, Revo Foods and Happy Ocean Foods, have also launched more ambiguous and non-imitation meat alternative products this year.

Happy Ocean Foods and Revo Foods launched versatile offerings emphasising functional protein and clean ingredients, while Juicy Marbles unveiled its ‘Meaty Meat’ line. Though still imitating meat, it takes a more “deliberately ambiguous” approach. Co-founder Luka Sinček explained that, while comparisons to traditional meat help consumers “visualise how they fit into their lives,” direct comparisons can “draw attention away from the products’ unique properties”.

Final thoughts

Personally, I believe there is still a place for meat mimicking products. They can be especially useful for people who are trying to transition away from eating meat for environmental or animal welfare reasons, but who still enjoy the taste. While I often cook with tofu and legumes at home, I enjoy a plant-based meat burger every now and then – at a summer barbecue or in a restaurant, it's nice to feel I’m not missing out on a part of the experience I used to enjoy back when I ate meat!

And while meat-mimicking products will likely need to improve in areas like nutrition and clean labelling – brands like Planted are already making strong progress here – I think they are disproportionately targeted by critics looking for a reason to dismiss plant-based food. Not every product needs to wear a health halo. I’ve never heard anyone argue that traditional sausages or ham should be pulled from shelves, even though they’re also UPFs. It’s widely understood that these 'less healthy' foods can be enjoyed in moderation, as part of a balanced, whole-food-rich diet, rather than daily or at every meal.

Rather than a complete overhaul of the meat alternatives sector, what is perhaps needed is a more balanced discussion around nutrition – and less sweeping statements about UPFs that fail to acknowledge factors like overall nutritional profile and socioeconomic disparities of consumers.

Either way, I’m more than happy to celebrate the rise of tofu! And with recent data projecting the global plant-based food market to triple by 2035, it can’t all be bad news.