Has plant-based meat hit a technical hurdle that only cell-cultured meat can overcome, or is the issue less about the products themselves than market issues such as price, cultural barriers, the economy, supply chain woes, and the competitive environment?
Join Ethan Brown, CEO and co-founder at plant-based meat company Beyond Meat; Dr Lisa Dyson, founder and CEO at alt meat startup Air Protein; Dr Tyler Huggins, co-founder at fungi-fueled Meati Foods; Abena Foli, head of regulatory affairs at cultivated meat co Orbillion Bio; and Dr Elliot Swartz, lead scientist cultivated meat at the GFI, for a frank conversation about the future of meat on November 15 in the second segment of FoodNavigator-USA’s Futureproofing the Food System virtual summit (Nov 15-17) where we’ll discuss:
- The evidence suggests plant-based meat is a healthier choice on a few fronts, but is that message getting across?
- How meaningful are the differences between products from firms that have raised millions vs those that have knocked out a generic pea burger in a few months on a budget?
- How important is closing the price gap with conventional meat?
- Are retailers getting cold feet about meat alternatives?
- What’s happening in the retail market? Are there too many me-too products with low repeat rates?
- Cultivated meat: Are there fundamental biological limitations about animal cell culture at scale or are some of the arguments made in The Counter already out of date given recent advances in technology?
- Plant-based meat: Has it hit a technical plateau? Are the products ‘good enough’ to appeal to meat eaters, and if not, what needs to improve? Do we need to add ‘animal-free’ heme proteins or cell-cultured fat or meat to convert ‘mainstream’ meat eaters?
- Fungi-fueled whole cuts: Will this unlock a whole new market?
- How do you sell Air Meat to consumers?
- Has all the soul-searching about plant-based driven more interest in cultivated meat because it’s ‘real’ meat, or has it made investors and others more wary?
FOOD TECH IN FOCUS: The Future of Meat (1.30pm-3pm Central time, Tues November 15)
FIRESIDE CHAT: Cell-cultured (a.k.a. ‘cultivated’) meat: Foodtech fantasy or the future of meat? Dr Elliot Swartz, lead scientist, cultivated meat, The Good Food Institute and Elaine Watson, senior editor, FoodNavigator-USA
Growing meat from cells in bioreactors instead of living breathing animals should logically be more efficient, as resources are spent on growing only the cells that make up the meat product rather than keeping an animal alive. So is cultivated meat a no brainer, or does the technology face ‘intractable’ problems at food scale?
PANEL: Meat 2.0: With weakening sales in the alt-meat segment prompting some serious soul-searching, what does the future hold for meat alternatives, how do the available options stack up, what will distinguish the winners from the losers in the category, and how do consumers feel about the next generation of meat?
- Ethan Brown, co-founder and CEO, Beyond Meat
- Dr Lisa Dyson, founder and CEO, Air Protein
- Dr Tyler Huggins, co-founder, Meati Foods
- Abena Foli, head of regulatory affairs, Orbillion Bio
- MODERATOR: Elaine Watson, senior editor, FoodNavigator-USA
To find out more about this FREE event, which is sponsored by EpiCor postbiotic (Cargill), IFF, Ingredion, Cargill, and FoodBytes! By Rabobank, Amano Enzyme, Evergrain (ABInBev), Spoonshot, and Exberry by GNT, and supported by Oat Vita, click on the links below:
