MorningStar Targets Meat Eaters With New Meat-Like Line, Incogmeato™

You might know MorningStar farms for its frozen foods like chicken-like patties, nuggets, and breakfast sausages. Now, the brand has caught the meat craze and introduced its latest line of fresh meat-like products: Incogmeato™ by MorningStar Farms®.

The “next-generation” of plant-based protein looks, cooks, and tastes just like meat, the company says. What’s more, Incogmeato will be displayed for sale in the fresh meat case at retail; this is something plant-based food companies have been fighting for in order to reach the intended meat-eating and flexitarian market. While meat-eater targeting may have started with Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, make no mistake, longtime players in the plant-based food space are following in line and there are no signs of a slowdown.

At an industry panel event in LA recently, Executive Director of the Plant-Based Foods Association, Michele Simon, discussed what it will take for the mainstream to adopt plant-based foods, specifically give up traditional meat for its cleaner alternative. She explains we are certainly making progress, but in order to reach mass adoption, three things are needed: products need to taste good; they need to be accessible, and they need to be affordable. Companies like MorningStar (owned by Kellogg) are well-positioned to deliver on those three fronts.

There are no signs of a slowdown for the plant-based meat market, and accessibility has never been higher. According to data compiled by the Good Food Institute, plant-based meats are now sold at 95% of grocery stores in the U.S., and sales grew 23% in the 52 weeks ending Aug. 11, 2018.

Also of note, until recently, MorningStar was different from other brands in that many of its products included egg—so they weren’t vegan—a deal-breaker for many consumers. The brand promises it’s phasing in new vegan versions of its products and they say by 2021, its 49 retail products and the 26 items it sells into foodservice channels will be vegan. (Note, all the Incogmeato products are vegan.)

Starting in March, customers can find Incogmeato’s new, ready-to-cook plant-based Burger Patties in fresh meat cases at select retailers including select Kroger, Meijer, Albertsons, Safeway, Stater Bros., and also coming soon to foodservice nationwide. Also, in June, the retailer says its ready-to-cook plant-based Incogmeato Original Bratwurst and Italian Sausage will debut.