MEAT THE FUTURE: The alternative future of meat
The alternative protein market allows the consumer of today to make purchase decisions based on a wider variety of factors, beyond taste, affordability, and convenience, to nutritional differentiation, treatment of animals, environmental footprint.
MATTHEW WALKER: When it comes to alternative protein, we’ve come a long way in the past decade. Just seven years ago, a cultured meat burger cost roughly $275,000 to produce, Beyond Meat hadn’t sold a single burger, and the alternative meat market was less than one tenth of its size today.
Since then, consumer awareness of the environmental impact of conventional animal farming has considerably increased. At the same time, entrepreneurship, innovation, and capital have driven significant enhancements in the quality of alternative meat products, and this combination of heightened environmental awareness and better products has laid the foundation for a host of emerging alternative proteins to compete for a growing share of the trillion-dollar global meat market.
The growth of the alternative protein market allows the consumer of today to make purchase decisions based on a wider variety of factors, beyond taste, affordability, and convenience, to nutritional differentiation, treatment of animals, environmental footprint, and others…
The preferences of meat consumers are increasingly multi-faceted and the meat supply of the future will be increasingly heterogeneous. It is generally accepted that taste and cost have the greatest influence on food purchasing decisions, with studies showing anywhere between 60% to 90% of consumers ranking them as the most important factors.
However, factors including environmental impact and nutrition are quickly catching up and among certain consumer segments have taken leading positions. Consider a 2020 study of adults ages 18-30 from International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity which reports nutrition as the most important influence on choice, and another 2020 Kearney study reporting that greater than 80% of consumers consider the environment when making purchasing decisions.
Regardless of which factors are considered most important, there is now strong consensus that nutrition and the environment are significant contributors to food purchasing decisions. Consider additionally that opinions vary materially with respect to what constitutes proper nutrition, what price points are affordable, and how best to support a healthy environment. Enter a growing spectrum of alternative meats, which allow a diverse consumer with multifaceted preferences to tailor their meat purchasing decisions in a way that meets those individual preferences…
Perhaps most important from an environmental perspective is the impact on resource intensity that comes from the scaling of alternative meat products. Each of these alternatives will have a significantly lower feed conversion ratio than traditional animal-based meat. In the case of beef, with feed conversion ranging from 4 to 8 pounds of feed required to produce each pound of meat, alternatives drive that number closer to 1.
If these alternatives achieve a hypothetical 30% U.S. market share over time on a combined basis, the resulting efficiency could eliminate 30 to 50 billion pounds of feed and free up a farming landmass roughly the size of Massachusetts. This land use efficiency, when combined with greater than 80% reductions in carbon emissions and water use, no doubt makes alternative meats an extremely compelling environmental story…
We have come a long way and we still have a long way to go. As consumers begin to internalize the environmental impacts of traditional farming, the true “cost” of traditional meat will likely increase in the minds of the consumer. As a result, the traditional supply chain will need to continue to innovate on taste, nutrition, affordability, and mission in order to attract the sustainability focused consumer. SOURCE…
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