Give us our pound of flesh—real or fake? Investors are baying for a bite of fake meat, seasoned with a dash of old-school capitalism, a pinch of market savvy, and a touch of moral purity. Alternative, clean, plant-based, analogue, in vitro, or whatever meat title is the du jour choice of the hour, world demand for meat substitutes is expected to hit $6.43 billion by 2023. Could a meatless revolution curb the cravings of a $90-billion global real-meat market? New money shines brightest, but despite a stampede of investment, the future of fake meat is hardly settled.
The pace of the alternative meat market expansion is dizzying, with substitute products estimated to tally $4.63 billion in 2018. The big guns of ADM, Cargill, Tyson and a host of others are elbowing for space, each keen for a serving of the latest and greatest in alternative meat fare. Innumerable smaller companies are jumping into the game, with new startups popping up monthly. If the alternative meat industry meets the herculean task on taste, texture, smell, and price, what might be the effect on livestock herds munching grain and grass from Mississippi to Montana?
In beef, chicken, pork, fish, shrimp and all the other members of meat’s family reserve, the hunt is on for tasty replacements based in plants, algae, insects, and methane, or laboratory alternatives essentially borne of a petri dish. The alternative meat movement is riding a strong current alongside a host of contributing factors bobbing in the flow: ideology, environmental concerns, capitalism, population forecasts, health alarms, and more. Even celebrity status plays a role in the future of alternative meat. Bill Gates and Richard Branson have a financial stake in Memphis Meats, a San Francisco-based company aiming to mass-produce laboratory meat, while Leonardo DeCaprio backs Beyond Meat, a high-profile plant-based meat maker. (Branson predicts fake meat will supplant real meat production within 30 years.) Bottom line, the potential of alternative meat production has captured the public eye, and investors are hoping the public palate and pocketbook follow.
Meat consumption is climbing across the globe and is projected to continue a sharp rise in conjunction with a world population on pace for 9.6 billion by 2050. Ultimately, alternative meat may be a complement, but not a substitution, to the overall meat market. Dan Hale, Extension meat specialist at Texas A&M University, believes alternative meat demand will ascend in tandem with real meat demand: “I see meat consumption going up and alternatives going up. Both industries can maintain and grow. There is a younger generation trying new foods for a mixed bag of reasons and the reality is they don’t always have big loyalty to meat products.”
“More retail outlets and hamburger chains are going to offer alternatives, but again, as an addition, not a substitute. When McDonald’s first offered salads that changed the dynamic, but it didn’t affect the core. I expect we could see the same situation with alternatives.”
Hale doesn’t view alternative products as a threat to the meat market. However, he says the message toe-tagged to alternatives often maligns the traditional meat industry: “The biggest threat arrives when people claim alternatives are more environmentally friendly or healthier. The information is often false and based on personal world views regarding the use of animal products for food and fiber.”
Hale doesn’t view alternative products as a threat to the meat market. However, he says the message toe-tagged to alternatives often maligns the traditional meat industry: “The biggest threat arrives when people claim alternatives are more environmentally friendly or healthier. The information is often false and based on personal world views regarding the use of animal products for food and fiber.”
Alternative meat plays off public fear, according to Jeff Savell, meat science specialist at Texas A&M University. “If you are already scared that something is bad for the environment, or loaded with hormones and antibiotics, then anything said to the contrary gives a leg up to a competitor.”
Is this fake news about fake meat? Not hardly. Thorough coverage of the issues by the Drovers Journal.
1 comment:
The vegan crowd claimd that livestock industry uses to much water to produce meat.
Looking at the ingredients of the fake meat products...water diverge first ingredient listed....
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