Fake milks are more popular with consumers than fake meats.
That's the experience of major supermarkets and other food retailers.
Their sales data from the last financial year has been compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to chart another small rise in the amount of dairy and meat substitutes being bought in Australia.
While the annual percentage rise of these plant-based products was another 14 per cent, the numbers are coming off a low base where actual amounts are measured in grams.
"The per person apparent consumption of dairy and meat substitutes was 20 grams per day in 2020-21, up a total of 29 per cent from 15 grams per day in 2018-19," ABS health statistics spokesman Paul Atyeo said.
Of that 20 grams, 17 grams came from Australians drinking dairy substitutes like almond and soy milk.
This official data bears out the claims from the dairy industry that the millions of dollars spent on plant-based and laboratory milk has so far failed to dampen demand for dairy.
An explosion of new products which call themselves milk - particularly nuts and soy - are not making the consumer inroads many of their makers claim.
The dairy industry says only two per cent of Australian households are regularly buying plant-based milk.
The ABS reckoned the 17 grams was equivalent to about half a metric cup per week.
"Consumption of dairy milk substitutes rose four grams per day between 2018-19 and 2020-21 mirroring a 4 grams per day fall in dairy milk over the same two year period." Mr Atyeo said.
"Almond milk had a particularly rapid increase in apparent consumption, up 31 per cent in the last two years. Soy milk increased by 16 per cent over the same period."
And even these numbers are a bit rubbery, the ABS admitted.
COVID lockdowns distorted both the buying ability and habits of consumers so they often discounted data taken from 2019-20 and compared the latest data from the previous year.
The ABS found of the other food groups with rises, the most significant was non-alcoholic beverages which rose seven per cent between 2018-19 and 2020-21.
The lift was driven by the increased popularity diet soft drinks (up 21pc) and packaged water (up 8pc).
In contrast, sugar sweetened soft drinks have remained relatively flat, although they still make up most (61pc) of the soft drink volume.
MORE READING: Fake foods find label crackdown hard to stomach.
The major food groups contributing most (over 80pc) to the total daily per capita weight of all products sold in 2020-21 were:
- Non-alcoholic beverages (making up 24.7pc of total weight with 387 grams per day)
- Milk products (18pc, 282 grams)
- Vegetable products (12pc, 197 grams)
- Fruit products (9.3pc, 146 grams)
- Meat products (9pc, 141 grams)
- Cereal products (such as rice, bread, flour and pasta) with 8.2pc and 129 grams.
The ABS said a number of major food groups underwent a decline in apparent consumption in the year to June 2021.
"For several of these food groups, the falls in 2020-21 are likely to be corrections following the COVID-related sales surge occurring in the year to June 2020.
For instance:
- Legume and pulse products and dishes (down by 9pc to 8.1 grams per day, following a 12.7pc increase in the year ending 30 June 30, 2020)
- Soup (down 6.1pc in 2020-21 to 4.6 grams per day, following growth of 8.9pc over the previous year)
- Sugar products (decreased 5.4pc to 22.6 grams per day, following a 3.5pc increase in the year to June 2020).
The largest relative decline was for Infant formula and foods, falling 26.1pc to 3.4 grams per day in 2020-21, which followed a 22pc drop in the year ending June 2020.
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