Milk and creamer alternatives leading the way in alt-dairy taste parity, new Nectar report finds
Melissa Bradshaw | The Plant Base | 19 March 2026
Non-profit food research initiative Nectar has unveiled its Taste of the Industry 2026 report, built on what is claimed to be the most comprehensive public sensory analysis of dairy alternatives to date.
The organisation aims to accelerate the transition of the $1.2 trillion global dairy industry toward less carbon-intensive plant-based alternatives, with the dairy industry among agriculture’s largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.
Its latest report on alt-dairy follows its 2025 report that focused on meat alternatives. Like the alt-meat study, it is based on an extensive dataset on the sensory performance of alternative proteins, with Nectar having utilised over 30,000 consumer sensory evaluations to build its alt-protein research so far.
The global dairy-free market is forecasted to reach $66.9 billion by 2030, but has historically been held back by taste and texture constraints as manufacturers struggle to replicate the familiar, tangy and creamy flavours of dairy products like cheese and yogurt. However, significant strides in enhancing taste and texture have been made in recent years – though Nectar’s report found that there is still a huge opportunity for improvement.
For the new study, Nectar evaluated 98 commercialised dairy-free products across then categories, with 2,183 omnivore and flexitarian consumers in San Francisco and New York, US.
The product selection spanned the US market, from established brands with nationwide distribution to emerging food-tech companies working with novel ingredients. Blind consumer panels and conventional dairy benchmarking were used to assess how dairy-free products perform in familiar applications – such as barista drinks in coffee, and mozzarella alternatives on pizza.
