Smart proteins gaining interest as meat and dairy alternatives, shows data

Smart proteins or alternative proteins that can replace meat are fast emerging as a major sector with mo¬st of the big players in the food and beverages segment, in India and globally, showing an interest in it.

According to available data, the total invested capital in the smart proteins sector globally as in 2020 was somewhere around $3.1 billion – three times bigger than the previous year. By the end of this year, another $4 billion is expected to be invested in the sector.

Globally, the alternative proteins market is projected to reach $290 billion by 2035. Several leading global research firms have predicted that they will capture 4-60 per cent of the world meat market by 2050 (depending upon the time period considered). J P Morgan says that alternative proteins will capture 7 per cent of the global meat market by 2035; A T Kearney puts the figure at 60 per cent by 2040; and Credit Suisse at 25-50 per cent by 2050.

In India, too, the interest is rising. According to Varun Desh¬pande, managing director of the Good Food Institute, a non-profit organization that is helping to prepare the ground for the sector, almost 75 per cent of the companies that the Institute works with in the plant-based meat, egg, and dairy space were founded or launched within the last two years.

“Companies like Imagine Meats (founded by Bollywood couple Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh) and Blue Tribe Foods (founded by Alkem Laboratories’  Sandeep Singh) are bringing plant-based meats to market, while dozens of companies like Goodmylk and Epigamia are bringing plant-based dairy products to market,” said Deshpande.

Even among the established players in the food industry, he said, awareness was growing. Several big players in the food sector that he works with plan to launch their own smart protein brands in the coming years.

Friday, a report said that leading consumer company ITC Ltd announced plans to launch a host of plant-based meat products in the coming months, thus becoming one of the first major mainstream company to enter the growing segment. Some time ago, the country’s largest food service company and operator of Domino’s India, Jubilant Food Works, launched a pizza with ‘plant-based meat’ toppings as a pilot project across Mumbai, the National Capital Region, and Bangalore, to test the market. It's not known how consumers reacted. 

According to the Good Food Institute, the smart proteins sector includes three categories: plant-based, cultivated, and fermentation-derived meat, eggs, and dairy.

Plant-based meat, eggs, and dairy are made from plant or crop ingredients such as soy extracts, pea proteins, pulse extracts, beetroot juice, coconut oil etc. and are meant to perfectly replicate the sensory and cultural experience of their animal-derived counterparts.

The alternatives they offer go far beyond the previous generation of soya nuggets or soy paneer to provide meat eaters with a simple swi¬tch. Replicas of commonly used meat-based products like ‘kebabs’, ‘cutlets’ and ‘biryani’ can be made from these alternative meats which then makes them suitable for mass consumption. Cultivated meat is pro¬duced from a small sample of animal cells. And third, fermentation-derived proteins are those der¬ived from microorganisms such as fungi.

Of the three, the most common is plant proteins while fermented proteins and cultivated meat are still a long way away from being mass market items. Smart-proteins derived from plants classify as veg¬an food under FSSAI guidelines, said Deshpande but not the other two. The question many are asking is whether products made from smart proteins  can replace the big animal husbandry sector. A survey a few years ago by the Good Food Instit¬ute showed that 62.8 per cent of Indian consumers are very likely to buy plant-based meats but only if they match the taste of real chicken and mutton.

“For the next decade or so, smart proteins will continue to remain as supplementary to the traditional meat industry. But going forward, the later will itself wake up to the challenge of producing environmentally sustainable products,” said Deshpande.

Others are less optimistic. “Look, globally as well as in India, food is getting innovated but will it replace the traditional items? I don’t think so. These products at best offer another option, an alternative to the meat consumer and in the final analysis it is the consum¬ers who will decide which product will stay and which will fade away,” said Arpita Mukherjee, senior professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.

Mukherjee, who has worked on various issues related to the regulatory framework of the food industry, said that smart proteins can help countries meet their WHO-prescribed dietary norms by attra¬cting those who do not consume meat. But how far they can lure traditional meat lovers remains to be seen.

She believes these products will remain niche and cites soymilk as an example of an alternative that has not replaced milk.

A senior official from one of India’s largest meat exporting companies pointed to another factor. “Our livestock population is huge and the population dependent on them is also massive. There is also the question not just of taste but of affordability,” said the official.