Healthy living
wants to eat,” Lucas says. “So adapting products to local consumers is going to be essential for this to work around the world.” Where you might now be able to visit the British coastline without being shocked to find vegan scampi and chips on the menu, other parts of the world are moving at a different pace.
Beyond Meat is a leading plant-based food brand that spent hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D before launching.
emissions in the region of £100m per year. It sounds promising. But is penalising people for eating meat the best solution? Neither Patelou nor Lucas think so. “At GFI we believe in making choices easier for people” Lucas says, “I think tax on meat in general should exist because there are lots of things that aren’t incorporated into the price we pay for meat. But making plant-based products affordable, delicious and available is such a great option because it won’t have the backlash.”
Patelou agrees. “As far as we’re concerned, the priority is equalisation. We don’t want the plant-based option to be more expensive than the animal-based option. Tax reduction on plant-based options would be better than making anything more expensive.”
“When you see the scientific consensus, it confirms that if we don’t change out diet and move to a more plant-based one, we are not going to be able to meet our climate targets.”
Vinciane Patelou 22% Blue Horizon 62
The legs to last It’s all well and good looking at the rapid progress of mature markets like the UK – ranked the number one country for veganism in 2020, with 39% of Britons planning to further reduce their meat consumption after the pandemic – but they are not the ones industry stakeholders are worried about.
When it comes to population growth, as Lucas points
The percentage of meat consumption that could come from alternative proteins if governments invest in R&D.
out, “it’s not going to be Europe or the US, it’s going to be in China and India”. In those markets, an entirely different and tailored approach is required to see plant- based eating take off in the same way. One of the main obstacles is price. After all, less capital invariably means that plant-based products need to cost the same as or less than meat products. “The same burger that becomes famous in the US is not necessarily going to be what someone in China
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail GFI works directly with product ecosystems to accelerate this change, operating a science and technology team, a business and corporate engagement team and a policy team to ensure there’s a fair and level playing field for all new products entering the market. “A lot of our funding goes on R&D,” Lucas admits. As a corporate engagement manager, Lucas knows that for plant-based products to thrive in the market they need to compete with enticing meat-based options that are currently only a Deliveroo away. “We’re not talking about products that existed in the 80s or 90s, we’re talking about products where eventually consumers won’t be able to tell the difference”. The difference? The amount invested in research and development.
This, according to Lucas and Patelou, is the key ingredient for this trend to last. “I hope the companies with products that are still here in ten years are the ones who have developed sustainable strategies, which is the case for many of our members,” Patelou says. In France, for example, you can’t label any plant-based products with meat names, making it harder for reducers or reluctant consumers to make a change. “These things are slowing down progress – not stopping it – the consumer trends are there, but it will be slower.”
Only by creating sustainable and ethical products that look the same, taste as delicious and don’t break the bank will companies make an impact long-term. This is the reason brands such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are so successful. “They’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars on R&D investment before they launched products on the market. They put in the work,” Lucas adds.
This is also the responsibility of governments. “If [they] invest [in R&D] we could reach a scenario where 22% of all meat consumption is from alternative proteins. Governments play a really important role in driving engagement,” Lucas stresses. A fraction that sounds achievable, but only with critical engagement across the board and some real changes to how we consume and think about food.
As for an entirely plant-based future? Patelou
doesn’t think it’s necessary, or even desirable. “One third of protein from animals, two thirds from plants,” she advises. Meat and two veg. If you think about it, it’s really not that different. ●
Ingredients Insight /
www.ingredients-insight.com
Beyond Meat
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