Plant-Based Meat Market to Almost Double in Value Despite Recent Drop in Sales

A report has predicted that the global plant-based meat market will grow from $7.5 billion in 2021 to $15.8 billion in 2028 — almost doubling in value.

A significant CAGR of around 15% is predicted over the forecast period, with growth said to be largely driven by concerns about the health impacts of meat. The report notes that studies have associated red and processed meat consumption with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and colorectal cancer. However, labelling restrictions that prevent meat-like terms from being used on product packaging could restrain the plant-based meat market.

Currently, alt meat revenue is highest in North America; burgers are the leading revenue-generating products, while chicken alternatives have the largest market share. Over the past year, frozen products have been highly popular, accounting for 56.65% of revenue. Soy-based products still have the largest market share at 48%, despite an increase in the use of alternative ingredients such as pea protein.

A rise in the number of market players could help to further boost the market, along with mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, and joint ventures between companies. However, there has been something of a backlash against plant-based meats due to claims that they are highly processed, so producers may need to address this challenge.

Falling sales?

These findings may be surprising to some, given the widespread reports that plant-based meat sales are falling. However, other research has made similar findings, predicting rapid market growth for alt meat products.

The market report suggests that disruption due to Covid-19 and the unavailability of raw materials may have temporarily impacted sales. Other research indicates that the cost of living crisis may in large part be responsible, with many consumers reporting that they can no longer afford meat alternatives despite wanting to purchase them. This suggests that if the crisis passes, or plant-based meat costs come down, sales are likely to pick back up again.

According to Impossible Foods, it is true that chilled plant-based meat sales have fallen, but frozen sales are still rising. The company notes that it has seen record sales every year since it launched.

Whatever the reason for the decline, it’s clear that plant-based meat is not going anywhere.

Source: Vegconomist

 

 

 

 

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How a Shipping Error 100 years Ago Launched the $30 billion Chicken Industry in the U.S.

Kenny Torrella wrote . . . . . . . . .

Some archaeologists believe that when future civilizations sort through the debris of our modern era, we won’t be defined by the skyscraper, the iPhone, or the automobile, but rather something humbler: the chicken bone.

The reason? We eat so many chickens. So, so many. In 2020 alone, people around the world consumed over 70 billion of them, up from 8 billion in 1965. Just this Sunday, Americans will likely eat a record-breaking 1.45 billion chicken wings as they watch the Eagles take on the Chiefs at Super Bowl LVII. And that makes it all the more astonishing that, according to chicken industry lore, the system that makes it possible for us to eat so much chicken in the first place originated with a minor clerical error.

The story begins 100 years ago in 1923, with homemaker and farmer Cecile Steele of Ocean View, Delaware. Steele, like many other rural Americans in her time, kept a small flock of chickens that she raised for eggs and waited to slaughter them for meat once their productivity waned. But one day by accident the local chick hatchery delivered 500 birds, 10 times more than the 50 Steele had ordered.

Five hundred hens was a lot — bigger farms at the time had only 300. Returns weren’t really an option in these pre-Amazon days, so she kept them anyway, feeding and watering the chicks by hand in a barn the size of a studio apartment — 256 square feet — that was heated by a coal stove. Four and a half months later, over 100 of the original 500 chicks had died, but she still made a sizable profit off the 2-pound survivors — almost $11 per pound in today’s dollars, adjusted for inflation — and began to ramp up her operations.

Her husband, David “Wilmer” Steele, quit his job in the Coast Guard to help Cecile expand, and within three years, they were raising 10,000 chickens. Word of the Steele family’s success spread, and by 1928 there were hundreds of farmers in the area raising chickens primarily for their meat (before Steele, most farmers raised chickens just for their eggs).

Two adults and two children stand among a couple hundred chickens outdoors. There’s a row of small barns nearby.
Ike Long, a farmer, Cecile Steele’s children, and Cecile Steele. National Archives and Records Administration
By today’s standards, a 10,000-chicken farm is tiny — a single industrial-style chicken barn will now house upward of 40,000 birds at a time, and farmers usually own several barns apiece. But in Steele’s day, her operation was massive. And the hatchery accident occurred at a fortuitous time — it was the Roaring ’20s, a decade of immense economic growth in the US, which meant Americans had more money in their pockets to eat more meat. Simultaneous advancements in agricultural refrigeration and transportation, along with the rise of chain grocery stores and the expansion of agriculture financing, made that meat more plentiful.

Around this time there were also seemingly small advances around nutrition that had huge implications for mass agriculture. One was the discovery of vitamin D in 1922, according to Emelyn Rude, author of Tastes Like Chicken: A History of America’s Favorite Bird. Chickens would often die of rickets when kept indoors during cold winter months (rickets is caused by a lack of vitamin D, stemming from lack of sunlight). That helped cap the number of chickens that could be raised at any given time, especially in cooler climates. But once farmers began fortifying chicken feed with vitamin D, they could suddenly raise them in larger numbers indoors and year-round.

Not only was Steele’s timing lucky, but so was her location. The Delmarva Peninsula, where Steele’s farm was located, was also the perfect place for large-scale chicken farming to take off. There was cheap, abundant land a relatively short distance from the hungry consumers of Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City.

Steele’s accident set off the chicken revolution as we know it. In the first half of the 20th century, chicken accounted for well under 20 percent of meat consumption in the US. Today, it’s about 44 percent. Over time, chicken benefited from perceptions that it was healthier than red meat, and became cheaper to produce, thus cheaper for consumers. Today grocery stores charge $4 to $10 a pound for beef and pork, while chicken can cost as little as $1.80 a pound. Bacon and steak may take center stage for meat lovers, but when it comes to what’s for dinner, the answer is more often poultry.

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Read more at Vox . . . . .

McDonald’s Debuts Plant-based McNuggets in Germany

Dee-Ann Durbin wrote . . . . . . . . .

McDonald’s McNuggets are going fowl-free.

The Chicago-based fast food giant is introducing plant-based McNuggets next week. Germany will be the first market to get them.

McPlant Nuggets – made from peas, corn and wheat with a tempura batter – are the second product McDonald’s has co-developed with Beyond Meat, an El Segundo, California-based maker of plant-based meats. McDonald’s has been selling a McPlant burger since 2021.

McDonald’s said the nationwide nugget rollout to more than 1,400 restaurants in Germany follows a limited-time test at nine restaurants in the Stuttgart area in August. McDonald’s will also start selling the McPlant burger in Germany next week.

Availability of the McPlant nuggets and burger in future markets will depend on customer demand, McDonald’s said.

European customers have generally been more receptive to McDonald’s plant-based meat products than those in the U.S. The McPlant burger is now a permanent menu item in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Austria and the Netherlands. Last month, McDonald’s rolled out the Double McPlant burger in the U.K. and Ireland.

But in the U.S., McDonald’s ended a test of the McPlant burger last summer without announcing any future plans for its sale.

Beyond Meat began selling plant-based chicken in U.S. groceries in 2021. It has also co-developed plant-based tenders and nuggets with other chains, including KFC and Panda Express.

Source: AP

 

 

 

 

British Company Says it Has Developed the First Truly 100% Cultivated Meat Steak. Here’s Why.

UK-based biotech company 3D Bio-Tissues (3DBT) announces it has successfully developed what it claims to be the “world’s first” 100% cultivated meat steak.

Although Aleph Farms likely holds the industry’s milestone for the “world’s first” cultivated steak (let us know if we’re wrong); 3DBT argues that the difference with other companies is that its fillet was grown without plant-based scaffolds making it the world’s first “100% meat” cultivated steak.

“Some other companies have produced lab-grown meat using plant-based scaffolds to facilitate the development of muscle, fat, and connective tissue. These are classified as hybrid cultivated meat products,” responded George Esmond when vegconomist enquired about the “world’s first” claim.

A moot point for the industry

Are cultivated products, grown using plant-based ingredients, to be considered hybrid products? We have covered hybrids products as a mix of plant or fungi protein with cultivated meat. As the industry evolves, we will need to clarify such evolving grey areas.

The 100 % meat, cultivated pork steak

Since its beginnings, 3DBT was poised to develop UK’s first cultivated meat. Last November, the biotech announced the successful development of a few cultivated meat prototypes using its patented serum and animal-free cell booster, City-mix, which eliminates the requirement for conventional plant-based scaffolds, blends, or fillers.

The progress on the prototypes led to the development of the 100% meat, cultivated steak — the “world first” without using plant-based scaffolds — which was grown using pork cells. According to the biotech, the steak measured 9 cm in width, 4 cm in length, and 1 cm in height, “just like a traditional pork steak.”

Dr. Che Connon, 3DBT’S CEO, commented: “City-mixTM, our serum-free media supplement in which we cultivated the fillet, is helping to greatly reduce the cost of cultivated meat such that it may become economically viable in the near future. At the same time, our ‘structure without scaffold’ technology is helping to make cultivated meat that more closely resembles traditional meat in every respect without the need for plant-based additives.”

Tasting the cultivated pork fillet

Dr. Connon, alongside 3DBT’s CSO Dr. Ricardo Gouveia, tasted the cultivated pork steak in both its raw and cooked states and, for the first time, sampled the product to test its similarity to eating conventional meat.

“In its raw state, it had the same characteristics as traditional meat … displaying fibers and a touch that showed consistency and elasticity.

“… when cooked, the fillet seared easily and showed the typical charring and crisping on its surface, while the aromas were identical to those of traditional frying pork,” said the company in its press release.

Cultivated meat and leather

Following this significant milestone, the company announced it will produce a further full-scale fillet to be showcased, cooked, and eaten by a select panel at an undisclosed upcoming event in London to demonstrate how its technology can accelerate the delivery of cultivated products to consumers and future suppliers.

The company is already looking forward to establishing partnerships with manufacturers and supermarkets interested in selling cultivated meat. Furthermore, the company says that by using its issue-templating process but with skin cells, it can develop leather for the fashion industry.

Dr. Connon added: “This is a significant scientific breakthrough which has very positive implications not just for BSF and 3DBT but also for the UK and the cultivated meat industry as a whole. We are absolutely delighted with our cultivated pork’s appearance, taste, aroma, and texture, which is the first time we have fully sampled our product. Our cruelty-free fillet has exceeded our expectations in all respects, and we are extremely excited about the technological progress we are making and the impact this could have on our industry.”

Source: Vegconomist

 

 

 

 

Post Collaborate with Disney to Launch New Cereals in Celebration of Disney’s 100th Anniversary

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Disney (Disney100), Post Consumer Brands is participating in the Disney 100 Years of Wonder celebration with the launch of multiple, limited-edition offerings. As a staple at the breakfast table, Post worked together with Disney to create a one-of-a-kind themed fruity cereal, a new-to-market confetti cake flavored cereal and a special edition collector’s cereal item.

The themed fruity cereal features Disney Mickey Mouse head-shaped silhouette cereal pieces with beloved Disney and Pixar characters on the box. Consumers can purchase this item throughout 2023 to experience the celebration of Disney 100 Years of Wonder at the breakfast table throughout the year. In addition, the new confetti cake flavored cereal will have updated packaging throughout the year to celebrate three different Disney and Pixar characters during specific periods of time. Consumers are invited to collect these unique limited-edition boxes. Both offerings will be available at major mass and grocery retailers nationwide.

For those looking for a premium collector’s item, the main attraction from the Post x Disney cereal collaboration is a special edition of the new confetti cake cereal in a Mickey Mouse-themed collector’s metal tin. Inside the metal case, fans will find a special edition cereal box featuring a retro design inspired by Post and Disney’s first collaboration on Post Toasties cereal in 1934. The metal tin, which retails for $40, represents a time capsule that inspires fans to remember and appreciate the start of Disney.

Source: PR Newswire