Plant-based Meat Has ‘Global Phenomenon’ Status

While the U.S. is seeing a huge appetite for plant-based meat and cutting-edge innovation, the rest of the world is also waking up to peoples’ demand for a healthier, more sustainable way of living and eating.

The U.S. is seeing incredible technological innovation in the plant-based food industry. The quality of products, and their likeness to animal-based meat, continues to astound “reducetarians” — the rise of people who are cutting back on animal products — across the country.

Impossible Foods, for example, has found a way to use plant-based heme — which gives meat its taste — by fermenting genetically engineered yeast and using it to make patties resemble meat. This process generates 87 percent fewer greenhouse gases and 75 percent less water than burgers from cows.

It’s no surprise, then, that plant-based industry is seeing unprecedented growth. Retail sales in the U.S. for plant-based foods grew 11 percent to $4.5 billion over the year leading up to July 2019, compared to just a 2 percent growth of the U.S. retail food market over the same period.

Related: Sales of Plant-Based Meat Grew 11 Percent in the Past Year

The U.S. plant-based meat industry was worth $801 million and was the third fastest-growing category of plant-based foods, behind milk and other dairy substitutes for the year ending 2019. It’s predicted to be worth $27.9 billion by 2025, according to researchers at MarketsandMarkets, while financial firm UBS predicts the industry will grow to $85 billion by 2030.

But innovation is happening far beyond the likes of Impossible Foods and other popular plant-based meat companies like Beyond Meat and Alpha Foods. While the U.S. is seeing a huge appetite for plant-based foods and cutting-edge innovation, the rest of the world is also waking up to peoples’ demand for a healthier, more sustainable way of living and eating. The global market for plant-based meat alternatives is projected to grow to $1.5 billion by 2022.

In the U.K., Moving Mountains (so named for the three mission-driven goals of the founder to improve human health, protect the environment, and spare animals of cruelty) introduced the country’s first “bleeding” burger in 2018, made with mushrooms, wheat, soy, pea proteins, and beetroot juice. The following year, it created the U.K.’s first plant-based hot dog, which is heated and molded to take on the appearance of a pork hot dog and smoked in a real smoke-house. The company, which launched in 2016, has since expanded across Europe and has recently made deals to export to the Middle East and the U.S.

Quorn, launched in the U.K. back in 1985, pioneered vegetarian alternatives to meat. In recent years, the company has been edging closer to the realistic meat substitutes aimed at meat-eaters instead. The company has launched a vegan sausage roll in popular nationwide bakery, Greggs. Thanks to their popular Quorn addition, Greggs made £1bn in sales for the first time.

Meatless Farm Co. is another mission-driven, sustainable plant-based food company that was founded in the U.K. but now has a presence in several global markets, including the U.S., Ireland, Sweden, Hong Kong, Canada, and the UAE. Its main goal is making meatless meals more delicious. The Meatless Farm Co.’s team of chefs and nutritionists are dedicated to making fresh plant-based meat alternatives that taste delicious, are easy to cook and are better for the planet. Most recently, Meatless Farm Co. entered into the breakfast space with a fresh breakfast meat alternative — meat-free breakfast sausages and meat-free sausage patties. Both sausage varieties are soy-free, gluten-free, and made from non-GMO ingredients.

Source: www.entrepreneur.com