From vegan beef to fishless filets: meat substitutes are on the rise

【From: Guardian Sustainable Business】

Sir Paul McCartney recently called on politicians and the British public to commit to a weekly meat-free day. Photograph: MPL Communications/PA

I am yet to see Jamie Oliver smacking his lips together as he whips some up into a hearty bolognese, but the meat substitutes market has grown exponentially in recent years, driven by growing concerns over health, food safety and sustainability.

Unlike the centuries-old diets of tofu and tempeh in Asia, the introduction of meat alternatives in western markets began in the early 1960s with soy protein and wheat gluten as the predominant raw materials. Today, protein products are derived from numerous additional sources, including peas, amaranth, rice, canola and fungi. As a result, the range of alternative meat - and fish - options is growing significantly, from Beyond Meat’s vegan ‘beef’ crumble and ‘chicken’ strips, to Gardein’s fishless filets to Yves’ meat-free burgers and hot dogs.

Vegetarian since the age of 15 and vegan for about half that time, in the past I felt if you’d already made the choice to ditch meat, you might as well ditch food products that resembled meat too. Why turn vegetarian only to purchase foods that require more processing, packaging and in some cases, more transportation than the likes of nuts, grains, pulses and eggs.

I’d missed the point. Meat substitute companies aren’t just aiming their products at vegetarians and vegans - who make up less than 3% (pdf) of the UK population - but also at meat consumers, a much bigger potential market.

It appears they are succeeding. In a study carried out by global market research company Mintel, of the 36% of Americans purchasing meat alternatives only 7% identified as vegetarians. Likewise, according to Quorn’s latest sales figures, more omnivores than vegetarians are buying and eating Quorn products for the first time in the company’s history. The potential environmental impacts are significant because of the lower demands Quorn places on land and resources than meat or soya. The company has calculated that if a million people consumed Quorn mince instead of beef just once a week over a year, 12,500 fewer acres of land would be required to feed the population (pdf).

Advocates for a reduced meat diet go beyond meat-free brands, academics, human and animal rights campaigners, and environmentalists. Famed French chef Alain Ducasse, has recently moved towards an almost entirely meat-free menu at his three-star Parisian restaurant, Plaza Athénée, in a desire to increase the sustainability and ‘naturalness’ of his menus. Likewise, the goal of Dutch company The Vegetarian Butcher is “to show real meat lovers that they don’t miss a thing when they reduce their meat consumption”. Then there is the likes of Bill Gates, whose support for substitute meat and egg products brings a new level of engagement and investment to the table.

So where does this leave us? Sales of meat alternatives reached $553m in 2013, representing an 8% growth from 2010. However, it’s important to keep this growth in perspective, as global demand for meat and associated greenhouse gas emissions (pdf) continue to rise. According to Dr Annet Hoek, senior consultant and researcher in nutrition and sustainability, “despite the exponential growth in the meat substitutes market, the replacement of meat by meat substitutes is still only a fraction of the total meat market in Western-European countries such as The Netherlands and Belgium.”

In America – a key market for meat substitute products – Mintel calculated that the majority of the population does not buy any meat alternatives and 67% of those who choose not to buy any meat substitutes said they did so because they prefer ‘real meat’. The ongoing work of food technologists to create products that replicate the experience of eating meat, and of marketing teams to promote such products, is therefore key. Professor Patrick Brown’s development of ‘plant blood’ may well help contribute to both.

Globally, the picture is equally sobering. Economic growth in developing countries is leading to rapidly growing per capita and total meat consumption (pdf). As a result, the annual per capita consumption of meat in developing countries has doubled since the 1980s and is projected to double again by 2050. Meanwhile, the rise in popularity of meat alternatives in many developed countries goes hand in hand with a rise in obesity, the promotion of low carb, protein-rich diets, an expansion in the ready meals market and growth in meat-heavy fast food chains both north and south of the equator.

While a shift to local, organic, non-processed, low-to-no-meat diets is welcome, so too is the move towards replacing a significant proportion of meat consumption with nutritious meat substitute products, alongside a more general trend towards reduced overall meat intake in developed countries.

The current demands we place on our food system are only set to deepen as our global meat requirements grow. These demands are resulting in the extensive use of factory farms, antibiotic overuse and significant proportions of crops grown for feed not food. Faced with meat pumped with chemicals from animals bred to live a short life in unpleasant conditions or an organic meat substitute that places significantly fewer demands on the planet – and in many cases, health - I know which one I’d go for.

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