An interesting article by Nathan Rice on ADWEEK shows the main trends in the food sector, underlining how central the fight against climate change is.
More and more consumers are wondering how they can change their diet to help fight climate change and, as a result, more and more brands are being called upon to revolutionize their products, rethinking their contents and packaging.
In this sense, interest in meat alternatives is growing. Alternative and healthy proteins such as those from mushrooms, algae and other plants are increasingly in demand, in an attempt to reduce meat consumption and, consequently, the impact that production has on the planet, both in terms of land use and greenhouse gas emissions. Spirulina algae, for example, is rich in protein and essential amino acids and its cultivation has a significantly lower carbon footprint than other foods.
A similar argument applies to peas, the basis of many "plant-based meat" recipes. As Nathan Rice points out, "it takes almost 100 times more land to produce a gram of protein from beef or lamb than from peas." Pea protein is in fact the focus of several alternative protein brands, such as Beyond Meat, which seeks in its products a balanced mix of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and fats from other plant sources.
However, not all "alternative proteins" are equally sustainable; much depends on the raw material used and the processing and production processes. It is difficult for a consumer to fully understand what lies behind a particular plant-based burger compared to another, especially in terms of the origin of the raw materials and the processing. This video from the Research Institute of Sweden shows the scientific efforts behind the creation of healthy, environmentally friendly and tasty meat alternatives.
The trend is promising and central to the development of many food brands and is attracting the attention of regulators in many countries. For more on this topic, see "Top 7 Alternative Protein Trends to Watch in 2022" by the Good Food Institute.
In the meat alternative landscape, in 2021 a popular and well-known protein source in many diets was brought to the attention of companies and the media: mushrooms.
As the World Economic Forum reports, many companies and startups have invested in the promising mushroom market. Through the fermentation of some specific mushrooms, in fact, it is possible to produce mycoprotein, which can make a variety of meat substitute products, offering advantages in terms of cost and consistency compared to plant-based proteins.
Cultured meat is another interesting development in this field. It is animal meat that is derived from stem cells grown in a laboratory. Since it is made exclusively of animal cells, cultured meat cannot be classified as synthetic. For this reason, the entire scientific community disputes the use of the term "synthetic" in reference to cultured meat.
The price of cultured meat in stores could rapidly decrease to the point where it is considered “cheap” by the average consumer thanks to technological improvements.
Cultured meat creation techniques have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration since 1995.
Theoretically, it is possible to create muscle tissue from any animal, including humans, opening the way to possible medical applications.
Between 2011 and 2017, several cultured meat startups were launched. Memphis Meats, a Silicon Valley startup founded by a cardiologist, released a video in February 2016 showing off its cultured beef patty. In March 2017, it introduced chicken tenders and duck à l’orange, the first cultured poultry shown to the public. Memphis Meats was later the subject of the 2020 documentary Meat the Future.
In March 2018, Eat Just (founded in 2011 as Hampton Creek in San Francisco, later known as Just, Inc.) said it could offer a consumer product made from cultured meat. In 2021, it announced plans to open a cultured meat factory in Qatar.
In 2019, Aleph Farm partnered with 3D Bioprinting Solutions to grow meat on the International Space Station. This was done by extruding meat cells onto a scaffold using a 3D printer.
Hampton Creek claimed to be able to take these cells directly from a simple feather, while SuperMeat claimed to be able to feed the cells with synthetic or plant-based substances (instead of serum).
Leonardo DiCaprio in 2021 declared his support for Mosa Meat and Aleph Farms, saying, “To fight the climate crisis, transform our food system.”
In Italy, the non-profit association Agricoltura Cellulare Italia APS deals with scientific dissemination and promotion of research in this field.
The price of cultured meat in stores could rapidly decrease to the point where it is considered “cheap” by the average consumer thanks to technological improvements.
Cultured meat creation techniques have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration since 1995.
Theoretically, it is possible to create muscle tissue from any animal, including humans, opening the way to possible medical applications.