Quantum Leap: Alternative meat market is expected to grow 10 times by 2029

No one who cares about the planet can avoid thinking about what they eat and how that contributes to climate change. Growing animals for milk, meat and manure is responsible for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities. Of that, beef constitutes over 40%, pork 9% and chicken and eggs 8%, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN.

This, combined with a growing awareness of the health impacts of eating too much meat and of the inhumane treatment of animals in factory farms, could drive more people towards meat alternatives made from plant protein and cultured animal cells in labs. The burger patties of Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, which use proteins from pea, mung bean, soy and potato, and which are said to approximate the taste of meat, are sold in US supermarkets and are served at the likes of Subway and Burger King. Tyson Foods and Nestlé are among the large companies that have joined Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods with their own offerings.

Besides meats, there are efforts to find alternatives to seafood, the craving for which has led to overfishing.

The other substitute for conventional meat— slaughter-free meat made from lab-grown animal tissue — could be available in stores in a decade. There are around 40 companies, including Memphis Meats and Mosa Meat, working in this space. Barclays expects the alternative meat market to grow from $14 billion, or 1% of the total meat industry, in 2019 to $140 billion, a tenth of the meat market, in 2029. But the potential in India may not be large, given that the meat consumption here is just 3.6 kg per capita, compared with a global average of 34.7 kg, according to OECD. Also, vegetarians may not be keen to eat something that feels and tastes like meat.

There are other challenges globally. “If consumers don’t have access to products that taste the same or better and cost the same or less than the conventional animal products they already eat, then the market will not be truly inclusive of all sections of the income pyramid,” says Varun Deshpande, India managing director of the Good Food Institute, a US nonprofit.

The other obstacle is that meat alternatives are processed foods at a time when people are veering towards all things organic. Deshpande points out that the meats we consume now are highly processed themselves. “In fact, the lack of cholesterol, hormones and antibiotics (in plantbased meats) endemic to large-scale animal farming makes these products healthier.”

Source:- https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/food-entertainment/food-services/quantum-leap-alternative-meat-market-is-expected-to-grow-10-times-by-2029/73014377