Soon, meat substitutes made from plants may include animal fat, albeit not the sort you may be thinking of. Companies that produce meat substitutes have introduced their goods to praise and curiosity in recent years. The market for plant-based meats and foods is expanding, but not all products are benefiting from the same level of demand; in fact, the stock prices of certain firms have dropped significantly in recent years. Meat from plants and lab-grown animals can be less harmful to the environment and cause no misery to animals. It can be challenging to replicate the flavor of meat, though.
A Montreal-based business plans to make plant-based meats, including burgers and nuggets, more appetizing – by adding ‘animal fat.’ “It turns out most of the joy and flavor that we get from traditional meat products is coming from the fat,” Pooya Mamaghani said. Mamaghani, a co-founder of Genuine Taste, a firm that produces meat substitutes, claimed that they had grown animal fat cells in a lab using cells taken from an unconscious cow. “Real animal fat without slaughtering animals” is what he emphasized as being grown fat.
Speaking from Montreal, he stated, “We took a few animal stem cells and grew (them) in a bioreactor and ended up with the same composition of real animal fat to enhance taste, texture, and flavor of alternative meat products.” He emphasized that no animals are harmed, and he told Global News that they can modify the cells to become healthier by replacing trans fats with healthy fats. With discussions ongoing with many corporations (he did not specify which ones), he has received close to $100,000 from a Canadian government startup grant and anticipates having his product available for purchase in a few years. He expressed his hope that it will spark further discussions on plant-based foods in particular and other animal substitutes. “That’s our main objective,” he declared.
Will Plant-Based Meat Be Purchased By Anyone?
Not everyone will find that type of product appealing. Vegans and maybe some vegetarians are prohibited from consuming animal products, even if they come from living animals. According to Mamaghani, their target market consists of flexitarians or those who identify as semi-vegetarians.
According to Alejandro Marangoni, research chair at Health and Aging Canada, pricing is a major consideration for customers considering any meat substitutes. “The novelty phase is now over.” Speaking from Guayaquil, Ecuador, he stated, “We need real advances that will create a scalable product that people are willing to pay, maybe a 10-percent premium, but not a 100-percent premium.”
He pointed out that although not as quickly as venture investors would want, the market for meat substitutes has continued to expand. According to him, many consumers stopped eating the new burgers and sausages once they started to have concerns about certain ingredients, such as vitamins and minerals, binding agents, and colors.
Cultivated fat, according to Marangoni, is probably going to make meat substitutes taste better and less like vegan sausages where “you notice all that (added) oil leaks out.” He hypothesized that fast food would be the most suitable and likely location for produced meat substitutes infused with fat. “I think that can be conquered,” he told Global News. “But I don’t think you’ll ever have somebody say, ‘Oh, this is better than a piece of steak.” He stated that the burgeoning population and increasing environmental concerns might make alternative meats a very useful answer. However, everything hinges on how inexpensively producers produce them and how much buyers are ready to pay.
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