Will Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods Survive Lab Meat’s Challenge?
Cultured meat's rise to dominance seems an improbable scenario. Plant-based meats got there first, offer the same eating experience, and lack some of cultured meats' lingering downsides.
RHIAN HUNT: ‘Some analysts predict the emerging science of cultured meat — aka lab meat or synthetic meat — could threaten the market share of “plant-based meat” producers like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods, and others in the near future. Growing meat separate from an animal might possibly solve the ethical, environmental, and culinary issues of meat and meat substitutes in one fell swoop…
To grow cultured meat, scientists place animal cells (muscle stem cells, fat cells, and collagen) in a nutritional medium inside a bioreactor where they can multiply. Artificial circulation carries nutrients and oxygen to the multiplying cells. The overall process is called “cellular agriculture.” Producing meat while avoiding the death of living animals is cellular agriculture’s primary attraction for many people…
Cultured meat is still too expensive for mass appeal or budgets, but its price trajectory over the past few years shows an exponential drop as technology rapidly improves… But Simply producing the meat at an affordable price doesn’t ensure its dominance over standard meat or plant-based meats, though. Lab meat still needs to prove how it stacks up against these established alternatives…
Plant-based meats and cultured meat will probably go head to head in three main areas to determine which will win the biggest market share: ethics, environmental impact, and flavor. While lab meat has strengths in each of these areas, plant-based meats have also come a long way from the limp, tasteless, poorly textured soy patties of yore. Some of lab meat’s advantages might not be as large as certain analysts paint them…
Nevertheless, lab meat could potentially capture some of the vegan market among those less concerned with deeper ethical questions, and who simply object to killing animals. Similarly, some people who currently eat meat might switch to lab meat, preferring a “killing-free” alternative even if they’ll eat standard meat in the absence of cultured substitutes. Lab meat could also potentially make market inroads in so-called “mixed” households where meat-eaters and vegans live together, helping make the “carnists'” dietary preferences less objectionable to the vegans.
According to Piplsay research, 15% of Americans have tried plant-based meat substitutes because they wanted to go vegan or vegetarian, but wanted a way to sate their meat cravings. Though nowhere near a precise analog, this statistic might give a vague clue about the minimum percent of vegans who might be expected to try lab meat…
Cultured meat’s rise to dominance, as predicted by some analysts, seems a somewhat improbable scenario. Plant-based meats got there first, offer the same eating experience, and lack some of cultured meats’ lingering downsides… While commercial cultured meat is clearly coming soon, Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods can probably rest easy as long as they don’t get complacent. Their products already closely emulate the experience of eating meat, while avoiding all the ethical issues and matching cellular agriculture one-for-one in terms of eco-friendliness’. SOURCE…
RELATED VIDEO: