Growing Alternative Meat Market (Part2)

Growing Alternative Meat Market (Part2)

  • 기자명 Daniel Park
  • 입력 2022.05.10 17:52
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[The Public = Daniel Park] Interestingly, the chemical industry is expanding its investments in alternative meat.


According to the industry, Hanwha Solutions participated in a $34 million (about 41.8 billion won) funding round in March by Finless Foods, an American alternative meat startup, and invested tens of billions of won. Finless Food is a start-up that extracts stem cells from fish and cultivates them to produce artificial meat with a similar taste. Last year, Hanwha Solutions invested in New Age Meats, an American startup that develops cultured pork. SK Holdings, a holding company specializing in SK Group's investment, also entered the market in 2020 by investing 54 billion won in 'Perfect Day', an American alternative protein company. Last year, it invested an additional 65 billion won and secured a seat on the board of directors. It also invested 29 billion won in 'Nature Find', an American alternative protein developer.

Investments in the production of “replacement for meat” materials are also increasing. Lotte Fine Chemical is investing 180 billion won to produce cellulose-based materials including methylcellulose. Methylcellulose is an essential ingredient in making meat substitutes have the unique texture and flavor of meat.
The expansion of investment in alternative meat in the chemical industry is aligned with each company's ESG strategy. This is because an increase in substitute meat can reduce a large amount of carbon generated in the livestock industry. An official from Hanwha Group said, “The domestic alternative meat market lags behind the US and Europe, but as large corporations such as Hanwha and SK are investing in earnest and R&D is actively underway, the market growth will accelerate as well as technology development. ” he predicted.

Along with plant-based alternative meat represented by ‘bean meat’, another field of the market is cultured meat. Cultured meat refers to meat made by extracting stem cells from cattle or pigs and culturing them in a laboratory. Although plant-based meat substitutes have the advantage of low production costs, there is a limit to perfectly realizing the taste and texture of existing meat. Cultured meat is made by collecting and culturing stem cells from cattle or pigs using biotechnology, and then combining food seasonings with ingredients. It requires less production resources than plant-based alternative meat and has a very high taste similar to meat.

According to AT Kearney, a consulting firm, the global cultured meat market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 41% from 2025 to 2040. In 2040, the cultured meat market is expected to grow to $450 billion (about KRW 533 trillion), accounting for 35% of the total meat market. However, no company has succeeded in mass-producing cultured meat. Therefore, to develop cell culture meat technology, which is considered a “game changer” that will change the paradigm of meat consumption, and to preoccupy the market, leading domestic food companies are engaged in an all-out war with related startups.

In the process of market growth, the emergence of 'hybrid meat' in which cultured meat is mixed with plant-based meat is also expected. The product launched in Singapore, which approved the sale of cultured meat for the first time in the world in 2020, is also a hybrid product.

As the market grows, the controversy over whether alternative meat is meat is emerging. The food industry agrees that clear standards and management regulations should be established. This is because the legal basis for substitute meat is still lacking in Korea. The 'alternative meat debate', which was first held in the Western livestock industry in the United States and Europe for several years, is also appearing in Korea.

Some states, such as Missouri and Texas, have passed laws that prohibit the use of the word “meat” for meat substitutes. The use of the term 'meat' on the label of substitute meat products is prohibited. On the other hand, in EU member states, the term 'meat' can be used for plant-based meat substitutes, cell-cultured meat, and conventional meat.

A kind of “food greenwashing” (fake eco-friendlyism) is also controversial. While advertising as a “vegetable alternative meat product,” they actually contain animal ingredients such as beef and eggs, or obscure product ingredient labeling.

It is also argued that the perception that substitute meat is environmentally friendly is false. They say that genetically modified organism (GMO) technology is used in the process of making cultured meat, or that meat substitute companies use a significant amount of crops and water in the process of making plant-based meat, which may not be of much help to the environment. The livestock industry is of the view that it is necessary to thoroughly verify the claim that substitute meat emits less carbon in the production process.

[Image by Unsplash]

The Public / Daniel Park webmaster@thepublic.kr 

더퍼블릭 / Daniel Park webmaster@thepublic.kr

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