STRATEGY ▶▶▶
Unlikely partnership? It may seem an unlikely step for a poultry business to join with a company that, on the face of it, undermines their core offering. But consider the shift – eggs produced by hens are a variable product and their production is influenced by a wide range of factors, like disease, feed cost fluctuations and the politics of farming. Synthetic proteins, on the other hand, are created in a lab from controllable products. It’s not hard to see the attraction for a company that sits between the de- mands of retailers and the expectations of farmers.
Growth For JUST, it is a perfect relationship to strike up. “Partnering with egg companies around the world is an important part of our growth model,” explains Mr Tetrick. “JUST will develop the technology (finding, sourcing and developing the raw materi- al or building blocks), do the upstream manufacturing and product development using conventional and novel process- ing technologies.
Other synthetic foodstuffs
Meat and egg substitutes are undoubtedly growing in popularity, and there is serious money being invested in finding ways to reduce food’s environmental impact. They broadly fall into two categories; those pro- duced with plant proteins to imitate the texture and taste of meat, and those that actually recreate meat by growing cell cultures in a lab. The list below starts with straightforward meat-replacement products and ends with the most cutting edge work to reproduce real meat.
Beyond Meat Creates burgers and sausages purely from plants and says that: “By shifting from animal, to plant-based meat, we can positively and sig- nificantly impact four growing issues attributed to livestock produc- tion and consumption: human health, climate change, natural resource depletion, and animal welfare.”
The Impossible Burger Impossible Burger arguably takes it a step further, using a genetically modified molecule that it says gives its burgers the juicy, meaty taste that vegetable-based meat substitutes often lack.
JUST Chicken Not content with replicating egg with plant compounds, JUST is also working on a cell-cultured chicken nugget, which it hopes to launch this year. It has successfully created poultry meat from cells gathered off the feather of a chicken – without killing the animal.
Aleph Farms At the end of 2018, Israeli tech firm Aleph Farms produced a steak from cells in a lab that had a muscle-like texture. Previously cell-grown meat
14 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 2, 2019
Meat substitutes are growing in popularity, not only because of their taste and quality, which is the case with Beyond Meat and the Impossible Burger.
had only been produced in unstructured forms like nuggets or burgers. The company achieved this by using a mixture of different cell types grown on a “scaffold”. The cost, too, is significantly lower. The first beef burger to be grown in a lab cost about € 250,000 to make, whereas a small strip of the steak was made for just $ 50. Didier Toubia, the co-founder and chief executive of firm said at the time: “It’s close and it tastes good, but we have a bit more work to make sure the taste is 100% similar to conventional meat. But when you cook it, you really can smell the same smell of meat cooking.”
“Our partners will do the downstream manufacturing includ- ing blending and bottling of JUST products as well as ware- housing, multichannel distribution and merchandising. The latter is something that our partners like Eurovo and PHW know how to do well and have been doing for decades. Part- nering with JUST allows our partners to expand and diversify their offerings, bringing new and innovative products that suit consumers’ evolving preferences. PHW’s chief executive Peter Wesjohann adds: “It’s great news that PHW will be able to offer JUST Egg to European consum- ers – a product that has exceeded all expectations in the United States and is on a par with conventional eggs. “We will use all of our sales experience and market knowledge to en- sure that JUST has the best possible debut in Europe.” The product is still waiting for European approval, but this is expected to be in place before the end of 2019. After that point, farmers in Europe, as well as America, will find them- selves competing with egg products produced entirely in a factory, rather than on a farm.
PHOTO: JAKE DAVIES
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