The improved awareness among consumers regarding what they eat and their food origins has become a vital cause for concern. Many individuals have switched their preference to plant-based diets in recent times, seeing the negative impact it has on the environment and the overall food chain. Plant proteins have constituted a higher proportion of human nourishment in recent years. The boom for plant-based food ingredients has reached a high in recent years with no intention of dissipating anytime soon. Many experts are looking to plant-based protein ingredients for meeting food requirements in the future and aid in reducing the global hunger problem.
Global Eating Patterns To Turn A Green Leaf
The popularity of plant-based proteins has caused nothing short of a global phenomenon by popping up on menus at fast-food restaurants across the country, selling extremely well at grocery stores, and all the while earning millions of investor dollars. However, some companies are carrying out product innovation in terms of ingredients, items, marketing, and distribution on a larger scale. This fact is estimated to create a way for further development and innovation in various parts of the world. Upfield, which owns plant-based products such as I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and Violife, declared that it would devote USD 58.1 million for a Food Science Centre that would concentrate on the future of plant-based food. That complex will be made accessible before the culmination of 2021. It will be established in Wageningen, in close proximity to Wageningen University and Research, a titan in agri-food research, graded one of the finest agricultural universities globally. Many European regions have been quick to transition to a plant-based ingredient diet, while the North American region is only catching up on the trend now.
The major challenge for plant-based ingredients market development is the need to convince the consumers of its quality and taste profile being similar to non-veg food items, which they will leave behind if they transition to this type of diet. Many individuals don’t convert to a plant-based diet due to this apprehension, and many brands are trying to fill this gap to help them transition easily. For instance, Schouten recently announced the unveiling of two new high-protein plant-based chicken and beef inventions with this factor in mind. The company’s novel plant-based beef and chicken cuts are vegan and are low in both cholesterol and sodium. The chicken substitute comprises 18.3 grams of protein per 100 grams and is assembled from wheat and pea protein grouping. The beef substitute comprises 22.7 grams of protein per 100 grams and is manufactured from wheat, soy, and pea protein.
Players To Aggressively Seek Growth Pockets
Many market players are also responding positively to the change in the preference for plant-based ingredients and are making their own arrangements to capitalize on this trend. A case in point is that of Meatless Farm has set its vision on global authority with the beginning of a completely new annex of its business providing plant-based proteins and ingredients to businesses across the world. Named Lovingly Made Ingredients, Meatless Farm has initiated a massive new center in Calgary, Canada, said to be the first of its kind at level, with a subsequent facility in the Netherlands due to open and commence manufacturing in the coming months. The factory represents an investment of £8.53m. It will permit Meatless Farm to switch up and improve its own recipes and manufacture tailored plant proteins for certain external associates, across bakery, snacks, meat alternatives, cereals, and other verticals.
Another development from Ingredion Inc., a food and beverage ingredient solutions firm, purchased German firm KaTech, a supplier of texture and stabilization solutions to the food and beverage industry, expanding its specialty ingredients portfolio. The newly acquired business concentrates on plant-based, dairy, and dairy alternatives, meat and fish, and bakery products. Its products are consumed for texture enhancement, protein protection and enrichment, stabilization, and emulsification. Ingredion has also expanded its line of plant-based solutions for the F&B industry, with the addition of two pea-based, pea protein isolate and pea-based starch ingredients to its Nebraska-based pea protein factory. Ingredion reveals this move to be a part of its strategy to “capitalize” on the strong-growing plant-based movement as food brands and producers resume the ramp-up of their vegan and vegetarian products in response to consumer requirements.
Stellar Development Curve Projected For Plant-Based Protein Ingredients
Many experts have surmised that a bright future for plant-based protein ingredients is very likely. With estimates revealing a 70% share, plant proteins have long governed the protein ingredient market using their use in the food and feed industry. As a result of this, many startups are attaining success by incorporating a reasonably cheaper manufacturing technique using plant-based raw ingredients like pea protein or soybean. The market leaders in the space currently, such as Impossible Meat and Beyond meat, perfect the use of pea protein to create mock meat. Building partnerships with major fast-food chains to develop and exploit new products has propelled the demand for pea protein.
They have also succeeded in expanding their geographical print, as was evident in the expansion by Beyond Meat, Inc., who recently announced the inauguration of its advanced manufacturing facility near Shanghai. It is the company’s first end-to-end manufacturing facility outside the U.S. in a majorly non-veg preferring nation. The pioneering plant in Jiaxing is anticipated to drastically raise the speed and ratio in which the company can manufacture and dispense its products within the region while also refining Beyond meat’s cost makeup and sustainability of operations.
