Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 127 Document Number: D02717
Notes:
Paper presented at the seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE): Social networks, social media and the economics of food, Montreal, Canada, May 29-30, 2014. 12 pages.
25pgs, Plant-based eggs have been recently developed by food practitioners as an alternative to conventional eggs. However, there is uncertainty on how the current egg market will react to plant-based eggs, as well as lack of knowledge about product development and regulations. In this manuscript, we explored this issue by conducting in-depth interviews with egg industries and retailers, as well as with plant-based egg manufacturers. Results show that despite egg manufacturers are struggling to provide an alternative to people who do not consume eggs, they are skeptical that plant-based eggs can replicate all eggs’ nutrients and functionalities. Furthermore, egg industries do not see plant-based eggs as potential competitors to their products, while plant-based egg manufactures argue that they will directly compete with eggs. Also, there is uncertainty on how to label and name plant-based eggs, which has important implications in terms of marketing and policy labeling of these new products.
