There is a growing investment in alternative proteins - from bugs based proteins to laboratory cultured meats and plant proteins. All such research and investments is expected to revolutionize the way people produce food and change the traditional food ingredients.
Among insect proteins, grasshoppers and crickets are some of the rich sources of proteins. In fact some claim that a piece of steak only gives about 40% in protein while grasshoppers can give about 70% protein with no fats. With about two billion people worldwide, mainly in Asia, Africa and Latin America already eating insects (estimated the United Nations Food and Agriculture Office), bugs can be serious contender to replace animal based proteins. Already there are investments in using grasshopper based proteins - Dutch investment fund, Sirius led a US$600,000 (S$803,000) round of seed funding in Hargol FoodTech, an Israeli start-up that farms grasshoppers on a commercially viable scale. There are also a number of companies using crickets to produce proteins powders such as Vietnam based CricketOne.
Laboratory produced meat is another alternative source of protein that is gaining prominence. These meats are produced by extracting cells form an animal and then grown to "edible" size in cell cultures. One of the cell based meats producer is Memphis Meats that has already successfully produced beef, chicken and duck from animal cells. SuperMeat is another clean-meat start-up from Israel that aims to grow real chicken meat in the lab and plans to bring its products to the market in three years’ time. SuperMeat has raised US$3 million in seed funding from - Germany’s PHW, one of Europe’s largest poultry producers, and Sirius Venture Capital. Singapore’s start-up Shiok Meats, a cell-based meat company, also promises to bring cultured and lab-grown meat to the table.
Plant based proteins sources is also another category of alternative proteins that is getting popular, especially with the rise of veganism across the world. Beyond Meat, for example, successfully launched its Beyond Burger in 2016. Impossible Foods also introduced its plant-based meat burgers in the same year. Asian foodtech startup Right Treat launched its plant based Omnipork in Hong Kong in 2018 - that is made of pea protein, non-GMO soy, shiitake mushrooms, and rice. Omnipork claims to have 233-percent higher calcium and 53-percent higher iron content compared to animal-based pork.
However, there are concerns that not all plants are able to provide all the amino acids that one needs with the exception of soy, chia seeds and some other plants.
More about emergence of alternative protein sources will be discussed at CMT's 2nd Food Proteins Asia on 22-23 January, 2019 in Bangkok.
For more information about the summit, contact Ms. Huiyan Fu -
huiyan@cmtsp.com.sg or call +65 6346 9113.
