t’s a great question posed last August
by then-CEO of global meat giant Tyson
Foods, Tom Hayes.
Why not indeed, particularly when
producing animal-free meat could solve
some of the greatest global issues of our
time while paying serious dividends to the
bright minds who make it possible.
It’s a question that a growing number of
innovators have asked themselves as they
race to bring the most compelling solutions
– plant-based and clean meat – to market.
Since speaking to Innovators Magazine in
January of last year, the momentum of this
work to transform the global meat industry
has been startling. This trillion Euro market is
growing rapidly, but its inherent
inefciency makes it ripe for innovation.
It can’t happen soon enough, given the
damage industrial animal agriculture causes
to the environment, food security, public
health, and animals.
That is why The Good Food Institute
exists – to shift our supply from slaughter-
based meat to plant-based and clean meat
- which is real meat grown directly from
cells. The potential has been recognised by
governments, big food, and some of the
world’s largest meat producers, who, just
like Tyson Foods, have made substantial
investments in the space.
The success of established plant-based
meat companies like Beyond Meat and
Impossible Foods continues to boggle
my mind. Despite expanding production
facilities and adding new shifts, neither
company can keep up with the demand
for their products, which now feature at
popular restaurant chains like TGI Fridays
and White Castle.
Perhaps even more surprising have
been the advances in clean meat. Startups
working in this space are now closer than
ever to commercialising their products,
already achieving milestones that some
had predicted to be far in the future. For
example, California’s Finless Foods aims to
bring its bluefn tuna to market by the end
of 2019, and Dutch company Mosa Meats
has announced plans to sell clean meat
beef by 2021.
Funding continues to pour into these
companies, coming from global venture
capital frms to the world’s leading meat
companies like Tyson, Cargill, and PHW
Group – which is the largest chicken
company in Germany.
Canada’s largest meat producer Maple
Leaf Foods acquired plant-based meat
companies Field Roast and Lightlife. Also in
2018, Mosa Meats announced that it raised
$8.8 million in funding with the support of
Bell Food Group, one of Europe’s leading
meat processors.
These investments have been a pleasant
surprise, given that years ago, it was an
open question as to whether the meat
industry would work to stife innovation
in meat production. But instead, more and
more meat companies have embraced
plant-based and cell-based meat as
they work to diversify their oferings to
match consumers’ changing appetites.
And research shows that consumers are
hungry for slaughter-free meat, refecting
a growing concern around the health,
ethical, and environmental impacts of
conventional meat production.
Plant-based meat sales are soaring, with
The Good Food Institute’s most recent
survey with Nielsen showing that one in
every fve U.S. households are buying these
products. Sales are up by 23 percent in just
one year. If this growth rate continues like it
did for plant-based milks, the market could
soon be worth more than $10 billion.
There is also widespread interest in clean
meat, with most Americans saying they
would be willing to try it and would
consider replacing conventional meat with
these slaughter-free products. Fully 40%
say they would pay a premium for clean
meat. And that’s before any products are
available on the market!
There is striking evidence to support our
goal of transforming the meat industry to
better means of production. From scientifc
breakthroughs and investor excitement to
industry support and consumer demand, it
could not be clearer that plant-based and
clean meat will be the future.
These are the felds where innovators can
do an amazing amount of good in the
world, while doing very well for themselves
in the process.
gf.org
Bruce
Friedrich
MOSA MEATS