The markets for plant-based meat alternatives in Europe are seemingly shifting to a new phase of development but can the category ever compete on a level playing field when animal farmers are so heavily subsidised?
The answer appears to be no but European governments are at least starting to wake up to the realisation the sector needs funding if they want to fulfil any ambitions to lower meat consumption, help consumer health and reduce the environmental impact from livestock.
The interplay between meat alternatives, diet and health is, of course, a contentious issue, with some products criticised for being overly processed and lacking in nutrients and protein when compared to real meat. However, up-and-coming start-ups like Planted in Switzerland are striving to overcome that challenge, working in R&D partnerships with academia on products with ‘cleaner’ labels.
According to Planted co-founder Pascal Bieri, the company is seeking to make its fermentation-produced plant-based steak, chicken and pulled pork taste better than meat with a comparable muscle-derived texture, while continuously scaling production to offer a competitive price point.
Government subsidies in Europe for meat farming are arguably a barrier, however, and a battle that Bieri admits is one he and Planted will likely never win.
“We’re not going to be able, as a private company, to change the whole world around us, so let’s focus on a fantastic product and technologies that are scalable and that lead us towards a trajectory of creating structured better proteins,” he says.
“I can build my case but I’m not going to change this. As a company, I’m not going to call for government support, I want to focus on the customer and I want to focus on our own capability of being able to compete with animal meat.”
Carlotte Lucas, head of industry at the European office of advocacy group The Good Food Institute, says the NGO offers research grants each year to players in the meat-alternatives sector but suggests it’s “just a small step in the right direction” and that governments can provide a “fundamental” financing role in driving the R&D agenda.
“The private sector plays a role in R&D and product development but if we really want to advance these products at an accelerated pace, then it shouldn’t just be happening individually behind each company’s closed doors,” she says.
“There should be open-access R&D, focusing on the key challenges around plant-based meat products in this sense that can really move the whole industry forward.”
UK funding initiative
Last month, the UK set out plans for a project to develop alternative proteins, including those derived from plants, algae, and insects, and featuring technologies such as precision fermentation and lab-grown meat.
Headed up by the University of Leeds, the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC) will get £15m ($19.6m) in funding over five years from the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Innovate UK.
Set up with financing of £38m, NAPIC will be tasked with “developing acceptable and planet-friendly alternatives to animal proteins”, partly in support of the government’s net-zero goals and food security. The centre will work with industry, regulators, academia and policy-makers.
“NAPIC’s partners believe the centre will revolutionise the agri-food sector by harnessing world-leading science to create a strategy for alternative proteins which will take them from the discovery and innovation phase, right through to commercialisation,” a statement announcing the project read.
Professor Anwesha Sarkar, director of research and innovation for Leeds’ School of Food Science and Nutrition and the project leader for NAPIC, highlighted some of the challenges that have plagued the plant-based protein sector, including meat alternatives. She also emphasised a concern for farmers.
“A phased transition towards low-emission alternative proteins, which have a reduced reliance on animal agriculture, is imperative to deliver sustainability and protein equity for one and all, and to ensure a sustainable planet,” Sarkar said.
“There are many challenges though and population-level access to, and acceptance of, alternative proteins is currently hindered by a highly complex marketplace, and there are worries about taste, nutritional equivalence and cost, as well as health and safety concerns for consumers and the fear of diminished livelihoods for farmers.”
We need a much greater shift in funding to ensure that climate-friendly food gets anywhere near the levels intensive livestock farming receives.
Jasmijn de Boo, ProVeg International
Jasmijn de Boo, the global CEO of NGO ProVeg International, welcomed the initiative as a “significant step forward” but she also said government funding behind alternative proteins in the “UK and other countries pales in comparison to the amount invested in the animal agriculture sector”.
She added: “We need a much greater shift in funding to ensure that climate-friendly food gets anywhere near the levels of funding that intensive livestock farming receives.
“Animal agriculture is responsible for up to 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, as well as large-scale deforestation and biodiversity loss. Only major food system change can turn the tide on this level of destruction, with the support of funding from governments like the UK.”
UK lacks alt-protein strategy
Despite the NAPIC development, the UK does not yet have what the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) calls a “national alternative-protein strategy” and it is also keen to protect meat farmers.
A Defra spokesperson tells Just Food: “Everyone should have access to a varied, healthy diet and make their own choices about what they eat. This government is committed to supporting a food system that produces sustainable, healthy and affordable food, while ensuring the right outcomes for consumers, farmers and food producers.”
Representative of the challenges of the plant-based meat industry and other animal-free protein categories, Defra said the “alternative-proteins sector is diverse and at different stages of readiness and investment”.
The UK government department also shared the views of Lucas at Good Food Institute Europe, who suggested more private and public partnerships, in association with governments and universities, are needed to drive growth in meat alternatives toward a more mainstream market.
Defra said in a statement: “The UK has renowned strengths in bioscience, cutting-edge technology and research, with world leading institutes based in the UK. We recognise the importance of innovative approaches and novel technologies to boosting productivity sustainably.”
In Switzerland, Planted worked with the university ETH Zurich when it set up five years ago to develop what Bieri calls a “mass muscle platform”. Plant-based proteins derived from rice, soy and bean flour are used to form a structure from which cultures grow in a fermenter, he explains.
Europe’s financing push
Funding and initiatives have also taken root in other parts of Europe, with, for example, the German government allocating €38m ($41.9m) this year to foster growth in plant-based, precision fermentation and lab-grown alternatives to meat proteins.
The European Commission has also committed €50m to an accelerator to develop food made using precision fermentation and algae, adding to a sector investment of more than €100m through Horizon Europe, according to GFI.
Also this year, London’s Imperial College launched the Bezos Centre for Sustainable Protein with around £22m in funding to commercialise alternative proteins.
In 2023, Denmark’s government launched its Action Plan for Plant-Based Foods, building on a sector investment of around $168m in 2021. Meanwhile, in Spain, officials in Catalonia have invested a total of €19m since last year, including in R&D for alternative proteins and a dedicated research hub, GFI said.
The European Alliance for Plant-based Foods (EAPF), which counts US meat-alternatives businesses Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, along with GFI Europe, among its members, also advocates government financing as being crucial to drive growth in the category.
“Creating a stable long-term market for plant-based foods needs to be a strategic priority for the EU, with proper funding and support,” Siska Pottie, the secretary general of the Brussels-based organisation, says.
“Moreover, we need to empower consumers to shift to plant-based foods. What is needed is a progressive-looking EU policy agenda that focuses on enabling the growth of the plant-based food sector through smoother regulatory processes, education and awareness raising and smart financial support.”
A more proactive meat-alternatives sector in Europe
Funding is only one part of the equation, however, to inject momentum into meat alternatives in Europe after the recent subdued growth in the sector. Some players have inevitably fallen by the wayside but that also arguably creates opportunities for tech-enabled businesses with products of better quality to try to capture more of a consumer market where there is still some reluctance to buy items again and again.
Government financing is, nevertheless, a key requisite as private company funding is often hard to come by, amplified by the fact R&D behind new technologies and protein formats tends to be slow to deliver results.
“Fermentation is one of the technologies and techniques we’re seeing to address the texture challenge, like biomass fermentation to create a whole end product. It’s also interesting because it addresses many of the nutrition and ultra-processing challenges as it requires less steps in the process,” GFI’s Lucas says. “There’s a more clean-label approach that we’re seeing companies take.”
Lucas adds ongoing R&D is “pushing the needle on taste and texture” in Europe, emphasising a focus on plant-based fats to better replicate animal meat in meat alternatives, vis à vis traditional oils like sunflower and coconut, which, she says, tend not to perform as well in terms of juiciness and mouthfeel.
“There’s a focus on new novel processing techniques, enhancing either extrusion to create the better texture or using techniques like 3D printing that allow you to layer the fats and the protein together to get that right mouthfeel,” she explains.
“Historically, the plant-based meat industry is a little bit thin on the reactive side of trying to address some of the ultra-processed concerns. Now there’s a lot more proactive work happening to not only make sure these products are on a par and healthy but make them even superior to conventional meat.”
In a similar vein, Bieri says Planted’s endeavour is to replicate meat as close as possible to the real deal to ensure repeat rates that are essential for growth but stresses the dilemma when up against subsidised animal meat.
“It’s about having good products at a good price versus value on the shelf to keep consumers in the category,” he says.
“Consolidation is happening but let’s look on the bright side. There’s going to be better products in general, better repeat rates, companies that are stable, that are in the best case already profitable, that can support the listings.”
