In this second episode of our plant-based meat series, we get insights from the experts on the market trends, drivers of consumption and opportunities for putting nutrition at the core of plant-based meat development.
Many consumers of plant-based meat products are already concerned about the impact our food has on the environment, our health, and animal welfare. A recent explosion of investments in plant-based meats has further piqued interest and attention from researchers, businesses and consumers alike. But is all this money being used to address the most pressing concerns of consumers? In this Disruptive Science episode of our BrainFood podcast, we discuss why consumers are buying plant-based meat in the first place, trends in this specific market, and related research and investment challenges. Finally, we explore how nutrition science and regulation can shape the future and help put healthier plant-based meats on store shelves and dinner tables.
Moderators
Kesso Gabrielle van Zutphen-Küffer, Research and Knowledge Manager, Sight and Life
PhD Candidate, Global Nutrition, Wageningen University & Research
Emily Yao, Undergraduate student of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
Speakers
Nick Cooney, Managing Partner, Lever VC
Dr Marleen Onwezen, Theme ambassador & Expertise leader in consumer science, Wageningen University
Dr Hannah Theobald, Head of Nutrition, Quorn Foods
Get insights from the experts in our BrainFood blog: bit.ly/BlogPBMep2
Podcast Timeline
00:00 Introduction
03:19 Question of the Day❓
04:29 Number of the Day
08:35 Markets trends & LMIC
10:05 Plant-based meat denominations and consumer perspectives
13:17 Demand for plant-based meat & alternative protein
15:20 Drivers of consumer behavior and choice
16:47 Marketing tactics
19:25 Pricing of plant-based meats
20:46 How to position nutrition at the center of plant-based foods and consumer choice ?
22:05 Consumer education
23:48 📣Newscast: Is plant-based meat losing its sizzle ?
27:02 Plant-based meat projections in LMIC
28:32 The forgotten mycoprotein
30:36 Dietary patterns and trends of alternative protein
32:41 Collaboration between nutrition and business
38:26 Conclusion
Kesso: [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to our second episode of Brainfood Sight and Life's new podcast, exploring the science behind nutrition and our latest initiatives. You're listening to Disruptive Science, the show where science meets a critical thinking. I'm Kesso Gabrielle van Zutphen from Sight and Life and I'll be moderating today's second episode of our series on plant-based meat. Today's episode is entitled "Plant-based meat: unpacking consumer insights". In the first episode of this series, we talked a lot about the science, the nutrition, and the technology about plant-based meat. But these discussions become even more meaningful when we put the consumer at the center. In fact, many consumers of plant-based meat products are already concerned about the impact of food on the environment, health and animal welfare. Now the explosion of investments in plant-based meat has [00:01:00] further piqued, interests, and attention for researchers in the food science and nutrition field, but also businesses and most importantly consumers. But the question is, is all this money being used to address the most pressing concerns of consumers? I am thrilled that today we'll have a whole session dedicated just to the consumer. First of all, I am so pleased to have Dr Marleen Onwezen with us today. Marleen you are a theme ambassador and expertise leader in consumer science at Wageningen university in the Netherlands. Your passion lies in understanding why consumers choose for sustainable, healthy consumption patterns. And according to you, Marleen, a lot needs to be done to speed up the transition towards alternative proteins, asking for more effective and tailored interventions. It's great to have you here with us Marleen. Welcome.
Marleen: Thank you so much.
Kesso: Next we have Nick Cooney. Nick, you are the founder and managing partner at Lever VC. An international venture capital fund [00:02:00] supporting early stage companies in the alternative protein sector. You also co-founded the renowned Good Food Institute. And according to you, Nick, the consumer drivers and market analysts projections are on the side of the plant based sector – continuing to steadily grow over the next decades. It's wonderful to have you here with us Nick thanks for joining.
Nick: Thanks for having me on.
Kesso: And our third speaker today is Dr Hannah Theobald. Hannah, you are a nutrition scientist, and currently head of nutrition at Quorn Foods, a leading alternative protein company, creating high protein meat substitutes with mycoprotein. And according to you Hannah, high quality, sustainable and nutrition-rich alternative proteins are needed to ensure adequate protein intakes in a growing yet aging global population to support both human and planetary health. Welcome to the show Hannah. It's great to have you here with us.
Hannah: Thank you very much for having me.
Kesso: And of course this show would not be the same without our dear co-interviewers, and today I am [00:03:00] joined by Emily from Johns Hopkins university. Emily is actively involved in the alternative protein project, a very warm welcome to you emily
Emily: Hello Kesso, I'm happy to co-interview with you.
Kesso: It looks like we've got all the right people to help us navigate through the consumer journey, a social psychologist, an investor, and a nutrition scientist. Now without further ado let's get started with today's question of the day, Emily what's our pick for today?
Emily: We've seen in episode one of this series on plant-based meat that not all plant-based needs are healthy. Related to that, Jacqueline from Johns Hopkins university wants to know if we're starting to see healthier options of meat analogs that now also target consumers who wish to purchase healthier alternatives. Hannah, what's your take on this?
Hannah: So if you look back to when vegetarian foods first entered the marketplace in the 1980s, they were very much around health, nutrition, but as the markets proliferated, new entrance would have been less focused on nutrition. As you rightly point [00:04:00] out, it's coming full circle and nutrition is again, front of mind when it comes to consumers, food manufacturers, or even investors in this space, as it's now recognized that plant-based foods don't necessarily automatically mean healthier. So what we're seeing is more companies putting nutrition, front and center, , considering fiber and protein once again, but also vitamins and minerals. And of course, looking at the sodium and saturated fat content of such.
Kesso: Thanks Hannah. And we'll come back to this later in the podcast, but before we do so I'd like us to move to our number of the day. Over to you, Emily.
Emily: The number is 2.1 billion in 2020. That was the amount invested in plant-based meat, egg and dairy according to the Good Food Institute. Moreover, an additional 1 billion came from full surveyed meats and fermentation. Nick, what insights can you share about this number?
Nick: Yeah, it's a very big number, right? Um, and that number, we increased very considerably from the previous several years. So if we look back as far as say, 2014, [00:05:00] 2015, 2016, very, very minimal investment into the space. And then those numbers started climbing around 2015, 2016. It's kind of been a straight shot upwards. So we've gone from back in those years. Well, sub 100 million invested annually, typically, to, as you noted 2.1 billion in 2020, and it looks like the figure for 2021 should be right around that same mark right around the $2 billion mark. So of course it's a huge amount of increase and what that's translated to in the market is a few things, but perhaps most pertinently for consumers, it has translated into a lot more companies entering the space and into companies in this space growing more quickly, because of having that capital to grow more quickly.
Kesso: Thanks for unpacking that number for us Nick we'll have a chance to dive even deeper into those in a couple of minutes. I am now going to move to our first round of questions on the topic of market trends and regulation. And again, I'll start off with you Nick. As you've just reflected on today's number of the day, many companies are investing massive amounts into research and development. So from the business [00:06:00] perspective do you think that the return on investment is likely to be enough to make all of this investment worth it for companies?
Nick: so it's a bit of a complex question because I guess it depends on what hat you're wearing and whose interests you're thinking about. So from the investor standpoint, one thing I would note is that there's a huge amount of indeed, as you point out a huge amount of R&D being done within the alternative protein space, largely. However, if we were looking at more specifically at the plant-based meat space, as a sub-sector within that most of the investment that's going into that space, and most of the use of proceeds of that investment is actually not on the R&D side. The large majority is other things that are just about general commercial growth. So marketing, expanding to new markets, expanding the number of products, but not necessarily the R&D that underlies those products, et cetera. So most of that investment capital is really just going to, to growing the existing product set and having more companies with similar product sets, not necessarily to the underlying technology. We for Lever VC, we really favor companies that are [00:07:00] working on technologies that can really improve the functionality and taste of these plant-based meat products,and hope that more companies put more money in that direction. But it's still the minority of the use of proceeds at this point. In terms of, is it worth it, will it pay off? So I think it's very much a company by company and technology by technology question mark. So if you look at Impossible Foods it's obviously a very well-known brand, they put a significant amount of money early in and still are into R&D clearly that has paid off for them and the same would hold true for Beyond Meat, which put a significant amount of its early spending on creating a really high quality product that was much better than other things on the market. And it's , clearly, very much paid off for them. Those are specific examples, right? I think, whether it's worth it for investors and companies to spend significant amounts in R&D more generally, really depends on what they're doing. What is that, uh, taste, flavor, technology edge they're trying to create, how big is the category that they're in and what are some of the other deal terms around those investments? Those things will all [00:08:00] dictate I think which investors and investments do very well and make a good return and which companies can really capitalize on better technologies and which don't cause it's, it's absolutely, absolutely the case that there are technologies being developed out there that will in these next couple of years, make plant-based meats taste dramatically better. And there are also technologies being developed within this general space that don't really have that much value add, even though they are receiving investment funding. So very much a case by case basis.
Kesso: Thanks, Nick. It's interesting to hear the many distinctions and it's also interesting to hear Lever VC's focus on functionality and taste. Marleen, I'd love for you to tell us more about market trends in other countries. We know that there are longstanding traditions of eating soy and vegetarian cuisines in Asia. And given this different cultural background. What do you think is the outlook for new plant-based product development outside of the west?
Marleen: What we see if we compare the Western countries and the low and middle income countries that especially in the Western countries, the burden is too high. The consumption of meat is relatively high.[00:09:00] So if we are talking about, having impact on the protein transition, it's mainly about Western countries and, having said that, indeed low and middle income countries are very interesting as we were talking about, cultural heritage there are already a lot of traditions and cultural recipes , which are very interesting in terms of, novel trends, plant based and sustainable protein. Um, what's a risky trend, which, we see is that meat is perceived as a luxury good.
So, , uh, a possible risk is that these low and middle income countries are still, increasing meat consumption and are losing the heritage of these novel and sustainable proteins. So that's a very risky aspect and it's really about aiming not to go into that repetition of history and, supporting these low and middle income countries to, to keep that status of plant-based products and for example, use all kinds of effective tailored interventions that, uh, use role models, social norms, cultural consumption heritage to really [00:10:00] keep that tradition alive and not fall in the same traps as we did in the Western countries.
Kesso: Hannah, we've seen different ways to name plant-based meats, such as fake faux, imitation meat, vegan meats. You name it. Sometimes plant-based meat products are even located right next to conventional meat when you do your shopping. And interestingly in the European Union, there's already a ban on using words, such as milk, cheese, butter for, for vegan products that do not come from animals, soy milk for instance is not allowed, but you could say you can use soy drink on a label. However, when it comes to plant-based meat alternatives , the European parliament decided not to ban the use of meat related names for, for plant based substitutes such as veggie burgers and soy sausage . So what's your take on this Hannah? How would you qualify the importance of denominations for these new types of products? And perhaps most importantly to what extent do you think that they may or may not confuse the consumer when we're doing our shopping?
Hannah: I am absolutely not a fan of the term faux meat or [00:11:00] fake meat, as it suggests actually you're making a compromise and that that food is inferior. So there's no solid evidence that the use of denominations such as burgers, sausages or nuggets is confusing to the consumer, especially when a food is clearly labeled as being derived from something other than meat. At Quorn, we've been making vegetarian sausages and burgers for a number of decades and the use of these terms is not something that we see consumer complaints about, and we make it really clear on packs that the food is made from mycoprotein. This is backed up by recent research from the European consumers organization, which confirms that consumers are comfortable with the use of terms such as burger and sausage. Again, as long as it's clear on pack. In fact, if you look at how terminology has evolved over recent decades, they tend to focus more on the job to be done. So if you look at the term burger, it's no longer about the fact it's made from beef, but more, the fact is around a protein, which goes in a sliced bun. If you ask someone what goes into a burger, they're just as likely to [00:12:00] answer soy beans or vegetables as they may chicken. So I kind of think this is a bit of a mute point, and I'd like to understand who will actually benefit from a change in legislation to ban meat related denominations. It is certainly not the consumer. If you think about what's being proposed previously, terms, such a discs to describe plant-based burgers or tubes to describe vegetarian or vegan sausages, it's really not something that's likely to inspire consumers to change their dietary behaviors. When in fact using terms that consumers associate with the shape of a food or, where your food is consumed, you're really gonna see a lot of a difference to that consumer. Then on your point around foods in the supermarket, I actually think it's a really positive thing to locate alternative proteins alongside meat foods, because it makes consumer choices a lot easier. When we look at food-based dietary guidelines, we actually see a variety of protein foods in that protein group. So you see soy beans alongside meats and [00:13:00] fish. So why not actually put them in the supermarket in the same place?
Kesso: Thanks so much Hannah for this elaborate answer. It's great to hear consumers' perspective on this so thanks a lot for these insights. Now I'd like us to shift gears and talk about why consumers are buying plant-based meat in the first place. Marleen, this is one of your key areas of research. There is just so much discussion around plant-based meat products right now and I would imagine that there's also a high demand for these types of foods. Would you say that this hypothesis is confirmed among consumer data? Can you maybe give us a snapshot of what it is that you are seeing in surveys but also what it is that you're seeing in your research in general?
Marleen: What we see is a, is a big, big paradox between on the one hand, the attention by the press, the media, the policy, and on the other hand, the behavior change by consumers and the retail. So although we have all the available knowledge on what a healthy and more sustainable diet is, and uh that we really should uh reduce our meat consumption, for example, in the Netherlands, we see that it's very, very difficult to really change behavior. And what's needed really to speed up this [00:14:00] transition it's really needed to develop effective interventions, to change behavior. And to go into more detail, for example, we see increased percentages of flexitarians and vegetarians, though these levels remain very low in absolute terms. So for example, in the Netherlands, we see an increase of 100% if you compare 2021 to 2016, though in essence, it's still only 7% of the individuals that uh identify themselves as a flexitarian. And what you moreover see in the Netherlands that the consumption patterns remain stable. So this is on the one hand worrying because it shows that there's an inflation of the definition. More people identify themselves as being a flexitarian, but they eat the same amount of meat. On the other hand, it's also promising. Because it also shows that individuals and consumers become more and more acceptant. They are more acceptant of becoming a flexitarian more acceptant of eating plant based and more acceptant of eating all kinds of alternative [00:15:00] proteins like insects and cultured meat and pulses. And it's now about finding ways to really support this acceptance and really support that individuals also are going to change their behavior.
Kesso: These are really fascinating insights Marleen, it's so interesting to see that there's this gap between intention and consumption behavior. Can you tell us a little bit more about why it's so hard to change behavior?
Marleen: Um, yes. So, these are not only conscious drivers. So it might feel like you're in the supermarket, taking all these decisions each and every time but that's not the case. You're also very much influenced by all kinds of unconscious drivers. And these are very strong mechanisms. So for example, these emotions, social norms, the environments are really, strong drivers that really influence our behavior. And that makes it also very difficult to change behavior because it's not that much a conscious process. It's also a very unconscious process. And one of the mechanisms, which is very strong and also quite [00:16:00] sub-conscious is habits. So when we're walking to the supermarket, we are not always thinking consciously about which products to buy. There's a lot, which is bought on routine. And for example, also because you're distracted by the kids, or you have only limited time, it's very difficult to change your behavior, even if you want to change your behavior. And then you also have a lot of consumers the majority may be even, that's not even wanting to change their behavior. So it's extremely difficult.
Kesso: Nick. We actually came across a brilliant talk that you gave at a conference where you were explaining that behavior change for saving energy was mainly driven by showing a community that other people were already saving energy. And I wonder, is this something that we can also see or can expect to see when it comes to plant-based meat? What generally works better when we want to draw consumers to consume plant-based meat?
Nick: Yeah, it's a great question. And there's probably a lot of ways we could tackle it. So that example you pointed out is I think from the environmental side is [00:17:00] illustrative of this broader reality that if we want consumers to make a specific change, oftentimes the best way to achieve that is other than simply encouraging them to make that change and telling them why they should do it. It's usually other messaging. And certainly the research would suggest the same is true here. For folks that want to look at more in-depth research about the specific to plant-based foods, so not plant based meat specifically, but at least plant-based foods, um, as a, as a category, the World Resources Institute has compiled some great research on that, but to answer, to answer your questions. Um, so in terms of what does make people consume more of these products more? So I think there's probably two ways you could answer that. One is at the very macro level. And the second is within the context of a very specific intervention at where some entity is, trying to get a specific subset of consumers to make that decision more often.
For the first of those, in terms of what is driving the increase in these, the consumption of plant-based meat generally, so [00:18:00] health is definitely the biggest driver as a motivational driver. So if you look at who's consuming plant-based meat, the vast majority of people who consume it are people who also consume regular meat, but they're adding plant-based into their diet as a way to improve their health. That's far, far and away what contributes the vast majority of sales and category. So certainly the more that there is a public perception that these products have some health benefits over the conventional version, and plant protein generally has some advantages over animal protein, generally, especially at our current consumption levels of animal protein per capita, certainly that's something that should contribute to, to more plant-based meat consumption. But as you point out when you reference price, there's a lot of these more general things that don't really have to do with uh, persuasion per se or at least not the way we typically think about it, it's just the general drivers of behavior, right? So when it comes to food, price, taste and convenience are the three things that drive most consumption behavior. And so the more that plant-based meat can improve in those areas, price, obviously being one of them, [00:19:00] but also in taste being of course extremely important and convenience, the more consumption there will be. In terms of very specific interventions and getting people to eat more of these products, I think it is more using other tools,influencing the selection of options in front of them, doing other things to show general social support for this and that it's becoming more common. There's kind of a whole range of those things, those kinds of social persuasion tools that could be leveraged.
Kesso: And Nick, since we know that the price is such a key determinant for purchasing decisions, perhaps you could also tell us how companies might reduce the price of plant-based meats?
Nick: So part of it's just a choice. A lot of companies in this space choose to have higher notably higher margins than you have in the commodity meat space, because they know enough consumers are willing to pay that higher margin, that it's in their financial best interest to do that. And so I think some greater number of companies just need to say, okay, we're going to take lower margins in order to have a larger market share and help grow the category as well as our place within it. And the thing about those margins is they really got [00:20:00] compounded. So if you know, conventional meat might have say a 15% margin and plant-based meat brands might have 25 or 30%, that's the price they sell to distributors, distributors then increase that margin. Retailers increase that margin as well. And so what you get is, even though the difference in cost of production per say, a plant-based burger and a regular burger might not be that significant, the price to consumer ends up being much more significant. So I think reducing the margins at each of those steps, from the plant based meat company itself to the distributor, to the retailer, not jacking up those margins is what would allow the prices to reach consumers at a price that's much more competitive with the conventional version.
Kesso: Thanks so much Nick, and we'll talk some more about pricing and LMIC in a couple of minutes, but before we do so I'd like us to bring it back to nutrition. Hannah, I know that as nutritionists, we always want people to be more aware of nutrition, and the content of the foods that they're consuming and so on, but it sounds like, and Nick was was just referring to that, that there are all sorts of other determinants that would play a role [00:21:00] in consuming those types of foods. It can be an irrational choice that is based on emotions and so on, so what do you think can be done to increasingly position nutrition at the center of plant based foods?
Hannah: Well, the biggest driver for food choices in the UK is most definitely taste. It might be different elsewhere in the world, but that certainly is number one. The second is price. And then in third place, you'll see nutritional or animal welfare coming in, followed behind by environmental sustainability. So, you know, it's not a massive driver everywhere. It's becoming an increasingly important driver with more and more consumers citing nutrition in their health choices, but it's definitely not number one. So we really have a job to be done. I think one of the challenges we face is the fact that healthy foods, at least in the west, are not always seen as tasty. We know that fiber rich foods, which alternative proteins certainly are, you know, that fiber scene is boring. Thankfully, that's shifting a little bit, as a result of a lot of media focus, but we can really take some lessons from elsewhere in the world and make healthy foods a lot more [00:22:00] exciting by incorporating colorful, flavorsome plant ingredients. When it comes to ensuring that consumers really understand the nutritional benefits, I think education and increasing knowledge is key here. Consumers want to understand, and they need to understand the benefits of reducing meat in their diet and increasing alternative proteins. They're looking to a number of different audiences or influences to get that information at one of those groups is healthcare professionals, for example. They're a trusted source of information. And at the same time, it's really important that actually healthcare professionals are understanding what choices and changing food habits consumers are making so they can advise appropriately their patients and clients. So I think it's really important to communicate the benefits with this target group and their professional bodies, and we certainly do that at Quorn, providing information on the benefits of mycoprotein in the context of sustainable healthy diets, and also to help incorrect m isinformation. In fact, [00:23:00] we've got our dedicated website called Quorn nutrition, specifically for healthcare professionals to do that. the products that the consumers or the foods that consumers actually purchase are a really good way of conveying nutrition and health messages. So we can use nutrition and health claims responsibly to communicate those benefits. We can also design packs and use photography to also inspire consumers to choose alternative proteins.
Kesso: Thanks so much, Hannah, this is very, very helpful. And I suppose it also depends a lot on the context, what we see at Sight and Life through our demand generation work is that educating the consumer comes with limitations to, and emotions, feelings and aspirations are major drivers as well. I would like us to move on to our newscast which is brought to you by Emily, Emily over to you.
Emily: Yes, thanks Kesso. I've been reading about how the plant-based meat market has been doing and how it's projected to do in the future. Sales of alternative meats could potentially rise as high as 118 billion in 2030. [00:24:00] However, the market's performance in the second half of 2021 was underwhelming. November, 2021 saw a report from the Financial Times suggesting that plant-based meat is losing its sizzle following disappointing third quarter sales from Beyond Meat. The same article also reported that in the US, market wide sales of other plant-based meat fell in 2021. In a follow-up however, they quote the head of plant-based meat solutions at Nestle claiming that sales growth has held up in Europe. Nick, we're really curious to hear your thoughts on this. What do you think about those numbers and what is the current status and projections for the plant-based meat market outside of the US especially in low and middle income countries?
Nick: Yeah. It's a great question. I think the news reports about that, that all had that general theme that, you noted, would simply just not looking at the data very intelligently. So I think there's two things going on. I think the lesser thing, but still worth noting is, some of those reports focused on just a couple of big names in this space. So Beyond Meat's year over year sales not growing[00:25:00] as much as they were expecting, Maple Lead Foods in Canada, them having actually slightly declining sales with their plant-based meat category. But those are specific examples, and there's other companies in this space that had great growth over that period. Impossible Foods is a good example, but there's a lot of others and smallers and you cite Nestle in Europe, but the same would hold true in the US. So I think that's one thing, you know, the category growing is a different question entirely from will the current leaders grow or grow as much as they want to. Those are two different questions. But the other thing I think the bigger issue is again, just that not looking at the data very intelligently. So COVID is obviously a big variable, right? And so what we had is in, in Q2 and Q3 of 2020, As there was panic buying and it was a big shift to retail purchasing over food service. You saw two things happens. So on the conventional meat side you saw sales jump, and then on the plant-based meat side, you saw sales really, really jump like much, much higher year over year jump in plant-based relative to conventional meat. In 2021, what we saw, uh, both of those [00:26:00] sets of numbers, then come back down because they, again, year over year sales and your previous year was a very atypical year. And so what you saw on the conventional meat side, in terms of your year over year sales growth from 2020 to 2021, you saw a big drop. So a drop in retail, meat consumption, and for plant-based meat, you saw still growth, but not as much growth as the previous year before, not a lot of growth. And you know, what did that mean? Did it mean that in 2021 consumers are completely losing their interest in conventional meats? No. Does it mean that consumers are losing their interest in plant-based meat? No. It just meant that there was this very strange thing that happened in 2020. So year over year numbers in 2021 are going to look different for both conventional meat and plant-based meat they were down, for conventional meat, they were significantly in the negative category. For plant-based meat, it was just not as much growth as previous years. I think when we get the numbers in for 2022, we're going to see it even back out so that we'll see plant-based meat on that same general growth trajectory that it's been on [00:27:00] for the past, you know, 5, 5, 6, 7 years.
Kesso: Thanks, Nick. It's amazing to hear you unpack those numbers and indeed it shouldn't come as a surprise that COVID is an important variable to take into account. And I wonder, do you have any insights on projections in lower and middle income countries?
Nick: So if you look at, so there's been some good projections on this from a few investment banks. UBS did quite nice projections for various parts of the world, including Middle East Gulf region Asia Pacific, Latin America, et cetera and, some other stuff as well. If you look at those projections, you see really significant year over year growth numbers. So of course, depending on the region, so anywhere between 15 and 40 ish percent year over year growth in many of those regions. Of course, they're all starting from a small base. So in terms of dollar sales growth, it's notas big as it would be the case if the US or Western Europe are growing at that pace. But in terms of percent average annual growth rates in sales, the projections are really, really significant for those parts of the world.
Kesso: Thank you, Nick. It's really [00:28:00] refreshing to hear your point of view on LMIC since there's really not that much data on this in the public domain. So thanks a lot for that. And this is also by the way, a major area of interest for us at Sight and Life and our 4th episode will entirely focus on LMIC and alternative protein. So stay tuned for that. And we are now moving on to our third round of questions, which is all about nutrition and eating patterns. Hannah, I have recently come across a new word. Um, let me see if I pronounce it correctly. Fusarium Venenatum. What on earth is a Fusarium Venenatum?
Hannah: I think it's fair to say that most people wouldn't actually know the binomial name of the food that they eat. So it's understandable that you wouldn't have heard of Fusarium Venenatum necessarily, however, you may have heard of mycoprotein? And you may have heard of Quorn. So Quorn is made from motor mycoprotein. It's a product which is sold in the UK, the US the Nordics and other parts of Europe, as well as parts of Southeast Asia. And it's derived from mycoprotein, which is made from Fusarium [00:29:00] Venenatum, which is a strain of fungus, which is naturally found in soil. It's fermented in vertical airlift fermenters for a period of five weeks. It's grown from carbohydrates, derived from wheat and maize . At the end of that cycle, it's steamed cooked, and then chilled and frozen to create a meat like texture, which is similar to that of chicken breasts. So it's actually a really versatile food. F rom a nutrition perspective, it's really complete protein. It contains all nine essential amino acids and it's got a PDCAAS of 0.996 which is similar to a number of proteins and superior to that of beef, soy and protein isolates. It's a great source of fiber. It's a source of selenium, zinc, and, choline as well. I think fungal proteins have certainly been overlooked, it's not recognized as a standalone food group. So we talk about plant-based foods, but actually fungus is missing from that. We need to see fungal foods being incorporated into food-based dietary guidelines, whether that's at a national [00:30:00] level or a global level to really see an impact. I'd actually really like in the future to see fungal proteins incorporated into the EAT Lancet diet . This will help communicate that fungal foods have a role to play, they' re a healthy source of protein with a low environmental impact, but also kind of help consumers understand the role that they play in the diet, and also to create an enabling policy environment for their production and marketing.
Kesso: Thank you, Hannah. It's really encouraging to hear all the progress and research that's been done in this field. Marleen, we've talked about the various drivers and triggers for plant-based meat consumption, but also of other types of alternative protein. And given that changing consumer behavior is so incredibly difficult. I wonder how long it takes to change dietary patterns towards plant based meat. And, do you know if the eating patterns towards plant-based meat are actually maintained over time? And as Nick has already mentioned, could COVID influence any of those, uh, changes patterns at all?
Marleen: What you can use [00:31:00] for example, to change habits is life-changing events. So that's are moments in the life of an individual. One is moving. One is receiving kids. Then it's an opportunity because individuals are thinking again about their routines about their diets, they're evaluating and that's a really, really good moment to, to jump in. And COVID relates to that because it's really life-changing. COVID really impacted our lives and resulted in a very life-changing event. It wasn't wanted, but has also some additional, side effects, which might be very interesting and which even support a healthy and sustainable uh, trend. What we saw when we evaluated the literature, that, we also saw some, healthy trends and some sustainable trends. For example, individuals, more often home cooking, more often local shopping, organic foods became more relevant and also foods and valuables were bought more often. So it's also a chance. And it's now about finding ways to to keep these changes. , it's really about finding interventions, which are [00:32:00] are fitting to the specific problem at hand, and to really accelerate these changes and to change that behavior. So for example, you can increase the availability of products, but it has no impact if consumers are not motivated. On the other hand, you can increase the motivation by triggering all kinds of environmental values, but it has no impact when there are no tasty and attractive options available. So it's really about finding the interventions that suit the specific target group and the specific problem at hand.
Kesso: This is really a fascinating topic, Marleen, and it's reassuring to see the amount of research and work that is being done in that space. So thanks for addressing this major research gap and I'm turning over to you, Nick. Based on your business experience and based on what you see as an investor. Is dietary intake data of any relevance in the design and development of plant-based meat? Do you actually see any growing synergies between nutritionists and the business sector for the development of affordable but also to nutritious plant based products?
If I think about answering that [00:33:00] question from a, what do we actually see in the marketplace? I would say not a lot of it. No. I would say the number of companies that have a nutritionist on staff where the goal of that position is to make the product as nutritious as possible within the given parameters, it's very rare. So I think other than a couple of very large companies, like obviously Quorn and similar, it's just not, it's not very common, right? That's not one of the first 10, 20 50, even I think a hundred positions being hired at most companies in this space. That being said, I think there is general attention paid by a number of them to nutrition. So when you look at companies attempts to differentiate themselves from one another, whether it's trying to get investment from funds like ours, or whether it's trying to get grocery store buyers to stock their products, not all of them, but many of them will point to nutritional differences they have two other similar competitors and to the conventional meat version and why they are preferable. So there are a lot of companies doing that, but I would say it's largely around a couple of general [00:34:00]nutritional aspects. So what is the saturated fat content? What is the overall fat content, cholesterol? Just the products don't have cholesterol. The conventional version often does. Sometimes fiber, protein is often one of those comparisons, occasionally salt they're less often, since plant-based meats tend to have a lot of salt. So it's really mainly looking at those specific kind of higher level nutritional items and how that compares to peers and conventional versions. So, yeah. Good amount of attention to that, but I'd say not usually something that's more in the weeds than that.
Kesso: And this is something that you would hope to see more and more in the future?
Nick: I would agree that there is more of that now. Yes. So if you look at that today, compared to two years ago, there is more of that and there is more of that sense that as the market continues to grow, improving incrementally, that nutritional profile over time is, will become increasingly important. And some companies. I wouldn't, I wouldn't say framing their whole company around that, but framing a key part of the value proposition being look relative to some of the other players in the field, we have a very short deck, [00:35:00] natural ingredients and or better nutritional profile. I think the expectation is that like, in the conventional meat space, you have a lot of consumers that don't really care about nutrition. They just want cheap tasty stuff. But you have a meaningful portion of consumers that do care. That the same thing is going to be true within the plant-based base, that there is a meaningful portion of consumers of plant-based meat products that want particularly healthy products. And then there's a significant portion of the plant based meat consumer group that feels that, look, this is healthier than meat in many ways, whether it's the optimally healthy, healthy thing, I don't really care about. I just want it to taste really good. But then you'll have others that really want particularly healthy products. And so I think you've got companies in this space looking to address one of those sub sectors, you've got some companies looking to address the other, you've got some kind of, kind of reach both in balance between those two competing.
Kesso: Thank you, Nick. And we are nearing the end of this episode, and I'd like to give each of you the opportunity to answer one final [00:36:00] question. And I'll start with you Marleen. Based on your experience, what do you think is one of the top research questions around plant-based meat that we still need to answer in the field of behavioral science?
Marleen: The point where we stand now, is, on the one hand, how we can change long-term behavior. So not only finding interventions that have impact at one moment in one context, but really change a lifestyle and having the different choices on all these different aspects in one slide. And on the other hand, the comparison across different interventions. So what's the most impactful intervention for that target group at that point.
Kesso: And Nick, as an investor, and if you could ask anything to the scientific community, what research question would you like them to address in order to improve plant based products?
Nick: Yeah, so like, well, my mind would go to is how and this was one of the questions addressed earlier. How can we get more consumers eating the products and interested in it? So I think for me, it would be AB testing type, quantitative data around packaging, presentation, language, those [00:37:00] sorts of things about what gets more consumers to pick it up off the shelf versus picking up a conventional package of meat.
Kesso: Hannah, you have quite a bit of experience working around key nutrition challenges in LMIC context. Some plant-based food companies are making their way to LMIC markets. What would be one of your pleas as this trend unfolds?
Hannah: My plea is to ensure that products are being formulated around a quality source of protein that is bioavailable and provides all of the essential amino acids. And also that the micronutrient content of foods is also being considered, particularly in respect to nutrient deficiencies present in the target population. So that could be vitamin B12, iron, or zinc. If a product can't be formulated with those micronutrients present, then consider fortification. You also of course, need to consider saturated fat and salt and make sure the energy content is appropriate. Also products need to really be tailored to the country context, whether it's not just from a nutrition perspective, but from a culinary and [00:38:00] cultural point of view. And also, as Marleen has already mentioned , actually we need to be thinking about the premium positioning of meat and make sure that products that are being manufactured and marketed are seen as aspirational because many low-income consumers wants to be seen to be eating meat because that's almost a status symbol. It shows that they actually can afford it.
Kesso: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more with that, Hannah. This is a perfect way to bring this episode to a close. My dear listeners. This brings us to the end of the second BrainFood episode on plant-based meat and consumer insights brought to you by Sight and Life. A huge, huge thank you to our panelists, Marleen, Nick and Hannah. And a big thank you as well to Emily! Now as always, before we leave, there are three important items that I need to share with you. Number 1, if you like the show, be sure to follow our BrainFood podcast by Sight and Life. Number 2, you do not want to miss our next episode coming up in May. We will be talking about plant-based meats, alternative protein and [00:39:00] environmental metrics. And then finally, Sight and Life is working to ensure universal access to eggs, which are also an excellent source of protein and essential micronutrients. So to find out more about what we do to make eggs more available, especially in LMIC have a look at www.Egghub.org. And that's it! My dear listeners, I wish you all a fabulous rest of the day, morning, afternoon from wherever you're joining us. Take care and be sure to stay connected with us through Sight and Life social media channels thank you everyone and see you soon!