2019 will be the year alt-meat goes mainstream
It’s still a tiny category, but the industry is at a similar point now as plant-based milk was a decade ago. Something similar is beginning to happen now for plant-based meat.
ADELE PETERS: ‘In the first half of 2019, the Impossible Burger – the plant-based burger known for its ability to bleed plant-based blood – will be sold in grocery stores for the first time. Good Catch, a startup making fish-free tuna and crab-free cakes, plans to launch in February. And it’s possible that the FDA and USDA will approve the first chicken grown from chicken cells in a bioreactor for sale in restaurants.
It means we could be at a tipping point for the post-animal meat industry. Sales of plant-based meat are growing; between August 2017 and August 2018, according to Nielsen data, dollar sales grew 23%. Beyond Meat, the California-based startup with a plant-based burger designed to look and taste like a beef burger, struggled to keep its product in stock at Whole Foods, and had to postpone its rollout to the U.K. because it couldn’t keep up with demand. The company tripled its production capacity in 2018…
It’s still a tiny category – slightly less than 1% of all retail meat dollar sales go to plant-based meat. But the industry is at a similar point now as plant-based milk was a decade ago… Something similar is beginning to happen now for plant-based meat… As more products come to retail stores, like the Impossible Burger, consumer awareness will continue to grow. The traditional meat industry is also likely to continue to invest in startups in the space, giving them the resources to ramp up both marketing and product development’. SOURCE…
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