Issues Management Monthly: Meat Alternatives
There has been a bit of traction in the media recently about the development of “alternative meats,” with most of the recent hype around lab grown or cultured meat. Often, there is some confusion around these alternative proteins, with plant-based imitations and animal-based lab grown meats lumped together in the conversation.
Beef has always competed with other proteins, including pork, poultry, seafood, and soy and pulses. Veggie burgers and other pulse burgers have been readily available at the grocery store for some time, so while the advent of competing proteins is not new, what is new is the recent increased marketing efforts of some of these products. For example, you may have heard that some of these lab-grown “meats” are currently available on the market, like the Impossible Burger, which is actually a plant-based burger made from extracting the protein molecules from plants and “building up a product from those protein molecules." 1
There is also the Beyond Meat Burger which is another veggie burger made from a variety of vegetables and pulses. This burger has recently gained attention for adding beets to their burger so they “bleed” like a beef burger. Both of these products are currently on the market, along with other plant-based imitation meat products.
On the animal-based alternatives, you may have also heard about “cultured meat,” also known as “synthetic meat,” “in vitro meat,” or “clean meat” which is grown from cultured animal stem cells. Currently, cultured meats are not commercially available, and according to an article I recently read, cost roughly $2,400 US per pound of meat to produce. It will be some time before economies of scale see such products on the market. Another animal protein making waves in North America that is currently commercially available are “cricket” or insect powders, which are already widely used as substantial protein sources in many countries....
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