MARKETS & CONSUMPTIONS: Alternative

ALTERNATIVE meats: fashion, trend or prospect?

By our editorial staff

The world of meats and the market that moves around it are going through a deep transformation that derives from becoming aware of the difficulties connected with environment, land, economic and social sustainability.

It is clear that there is a trend to consume alternative products in place of meat and its derivatives, and the trend of consumption shows it clearly. Carlo Truzzo, quality manager of Metro Italia, has recently explained this topic during a seminar developed by AITA. Based on Ismea processings on ISTAT data, the consumption of bovine meat, pork and cured meats, poultry and sheep/goat meats per person in Italy dropped from 81.4 kg to 76.0 kg between 2010 and 2018. The consumption of bovine meats per person is the following: • 2010 – 23.7 kg • 2014 – 17.4 kg • 2018 – 17.2 kg. The picture is slightly different for the consumption of pork and cured meats, which remains more or less stable, thanks maybe to the lower price of pork meat and to the practicality of cured meat service and consumption. In this case the trend was: • 2010 – 38.4 kg • 2014 – 36.5 kg • 2018 – 38.2 kg. Increased consumption for poultry thanks to the competitive price of this meat: • 2010 – 18.0 kg • 2014 – 19.2 kg • 2018 – 19.7 kg. The outburst of fish products, from fishing to aquacultures, is a real surprise with consumption per person of: • 2010 – 20.9 kg • 2018 – 30.9 kg. Analysing these data and other researches carried out over the years, we can suppose that the consumption of meat in Europe and in the United States will reach its peak in 2025, then the consumption will start to decrease following the new trends. It is clear that we will have to change our food habits and food production methods to avoid malnutrition in a growing number of

Consumption of pork and cured meats per person

The tailors of food processing machines since 1960 cooking/smoking or Visit us! roasting units Hall 8 Ellermatic Booth G77 tilting cooking kettles with stirrer Novomat/ST Our products:

people and to fight the effects of climate changes. Among the new trends, we can consider alternative products in place of meat – fake sausages and burgers – and the so-called clean meat, meat that is grown in laboratory from animal stem cells. The former meats, the vegetable ones, are more widespread and offer very interesting solutions also for food service. They have pros and cons: they do not impact the climate and the environment but do not meet all the nutritional requirements. The latter, laboratory-grown meats, are extremely expensive and in Italy haven’t entered the market yet. The challenge of the future lies in the development of products that will satisfy the world population’s demand for food, which is expected to reach 9 billion people in 2050. INDUSTRY 4.0 In fact, 11% of all meats, seafood, eggs and dairy products easy process optimization consumed all around the world are forecast to be of alternative origin by 2035. It is FAO opinion that the larger demand of animal proteins could be faced by resorting to insects: insects, fungi, algae (like spirulina microalgae and kelp red macroalgae) might become foods with a high nutritional value, produced under different conditions, indoor, cutting emissions and other footprints, and reducing or even nullifying the biological risks. Among the current trends, ‘healthy’ cured meats show interesting consumption results. They can be divided in 4 macro groups: • cured meats with a low content of salt, characterised by low sodium levels and enhanced potassium levels • gluten free cured meats, suitable for persons who suffer from celiac disease • cured meats with a lower content of fats, up to 30% • take away trays: pre-sliced products are perfect for ready-to-eat, light and easyto-digest consumption. Consumers are sensitive to food safety, sensory characteristics, nutritional characteristics, and sustainability. But all these trends have some critical aspects that we should keep in mind: • consumers say they are interested in the nutritional aspect of food but, in truth, they do not read or do not understand the details printed on the packages • as a consequence, it is important to pay specific attention to nutritional claims,

New trends. Alternative and synthetic “meats” : 11% of all meats, seafood, eggs and dairy products consumed all around the world will likely be of alternative origin by 2035. (Boston Consulting Group & Horizon Corporation)

which should be easy to find and to understand • in addition, it’s important to verify that there is adequate correspondence between the message in the claim and what the consumer perceives and expects from the message • the nutritional values per portion (not mandatory) must specify the number of portions, otherwise the consumer can’t calculate the calorie count of some foods.

HI-FOOD EXPERIENCE

During the seminar, the point of view of Massimo Ambanelli, AD Hi-food, a company established as a start-up that develops and produces natural ingredients with a high technological functionality, was illuminating. The ingredients selected from botanical sources all round the world are locally processed and combined in two production plants sited near Parma. It’s recent news that Hi-Food has been acquired by Investindustrial. Public opinion and experts are divided on whether meat substitutes should be like meat or not. In fact in the last years, the appearance, brand and formulation of recipes for products meant to replace meat, have developed from niche products for vegetarian and vegan consumers to products for traditional consumers. For this reason, the products must more and more frequently satisfy a broader range of expectations, and the demand for foods that are sustainable for our planet and our health add up to ideological reasons, animal well-being included. To continue, some consumers are only driven by the desire for something new, or imagine products that can somehow emulate the appearance and compactness of meat. The analyses show that: • 58% of consumers demand products with an appearance and a compactness that is similar to meat • 33% cares that ingredients are sustainable • 22% wishes larger availability of these products Following Covid-19 pandemic, the percentage of flexitarian consumers is increasing, as well as those who pay more attention to nutritional claims. In general: • 23% of global consumers are trying to limit the consumption of meat • 16% of global consumers are trying to follow a vegetal diet • 15% of global consumers are trying to limit the consumption of dairy products • 6% of global consumers are now following a vegetal/flexitarian diet. The industry of plant-based alternatives registered a jump in 2020 and is still increasing, as a recent market analysis by FMCG Guru reports. The fast-developing sector is supported by a growing number of consumers who are going to eliminate or modify their consumption of meat and its derivatives. Health and environment sustainability appear to be the main reasons for this interest. We are in front of a flexitarian consumer: 27% of consumers all around the world declare they regularly use plantbased substitutes of meat, and 68% thinks it is indispensable to look for as natural products as possible on the label, with a high nutritional power. The industry offers a selection of proposals: from meat grown from meat cells to plant-based meats, which means meats made with vegetal proteins and genetically modified ingredients, or with vegetal proteins and other ingredients of vegetal origin, or even the so-called hybrid-meat, that is plant-based meat with addition of genuine meat. Let’s now see what plant-based meat means in detail: plant-based meats are produced combining leguminous or cereal cells with other ingredients by means of some innovative technologies. They differ from the vegetal substitutes now available on the market for their extraordinary similarity to animal meat, in terms of taste, compactness, appearance and cooking. The ingredients have vegetal origin but the product contains preservatives, thickeners, coloring substances, and genetically modified yeasts sometimes. We should investigate if these meat substitutes are able to satisfy the demand without compromising industrial animal farming and the equilibria of our planet. Hi-Food suggests a hybrid approach: mixed plant-based products, in order to restore the equilibrium through production technologies and methods that enable to obtain raw materials and ingredients that are useful for both conventional and vegetalbased foods. The key word is upcycle: the virtuous re-use of by-products. Innovation starts from the search for raw materials derived from recovered renewable vegetal sources. Hi-Food is now finishing a new production site where proteins and vegetal fibres will converge and will become the meeting point between the animal and the vegetal world. 

25 YEARS OF INNOVATION