Alternative Protein Fundamentals Programme

Policy & Entrepreneurship Track

Week 5: Non-meat applications of alternative proteins

Intensive animal agriculture doesn’t just supply the meat industry. A range of products, including seafood, dairy and textiles rely on this too. If we are to achieve the goal of ending factory farming, alternatives need to be produced in these areas. 

This session aims to provide some context on the applications of alt. proteins aside from meat. Over the past three weeks, you’ve learned a bit about how plant-based, fermentation and cultivation technologies work - now take the time to consider how these technologies have the potential to disrupt other major industries.

Core Material [~2hrs 25mins]

As alternative protein products come to market, one of the key factors in consumer adoption is nomenclature. This has most recently come to the fore in the EU with debates over the marketing of plant-based dairy products:

Exercise: A huge range of products are sourced from animals. Think of an animal product not mentioned in the resources and do some research into whether there are any companies or research groups working in this space. If there are some already, bring them to discuss with your cohort in the next session. If there aren’t, have a think about how you might be able to create this product using alternative protein technologies. Maybe post in the #discussion or #find-collaborators channel to see if anyone is keen to work with you on this!

Discussion Prompts:

Alternative Seafood

  • Can you think of any reasons why plant-based seafood might be underrepresented in the market compared to plant-based meat?

  • “There is no seafood burger” - no single seafood product that can dominate the market share in the same way a burger can for meat. What are the implications of this for alternative seafood businesses?

  • Studies indicate that awareness of ocean health (including mercury and microplastics) are preventing increased seafood consumption and may make novel alternative seafood technologies more palatable to consumers. How do you think this awareness has been achieved and to what extent do you think the terrestrial alternative meat industry can learn from this about educating consumers?

Alternative Dairy

  • How do you view the differing strategic approaches of Perfect Day and Stockeld Dreamery - one working with large agribusinesses, the other with professional chefs? What are the pros and cons of each?

  • The plant-based milk market is probably the most developed of all alternative protein markets (~15% of the US milk market). Why do you think this is and what can other areas of this field learn from plant-based milk?

  • The increase in PB milk consumption has, amongst other factors, been responsible for putting huge numbers of local dairy farms out of business.

    • What are your thoughts on this? Given that the alternative milk industry seems to be a few years ahead of other alternative proteins, how could we apply learnings to other conventional animal agriculture sectors?

    • As a result, a greater proportion of the animal-produced dairy is shifting towards intensive farming operations. Overall is this having a net-positive or net-negative effect on animal welfare, environmental impact etc? Would this shift have happened anyway even without the disruption from plant-based milk?

    • What do you think are the long-term outcomes for this sector?

Alternative Textiles

  • Andras Forgacs says that Modern Meadow want to take what consumers love about leather and build on it rather than trying to mimic traditional leather, whereas most alternative protein food companies are currently trying to mimic traditional meat products.

    • What kind of innovations would you be excited to see in the textiles space?

    • To what extent do you think consumers will be excited by and accepting of innovation in the textiles space compared to the food space?

  • Forgacs mentions other rarer animal leathers (crocodile, kangaroo etc.). To what extent do you see potential for alternative proteins in other rare animal products?

Policy and Nomenclature

  • What is your opinion on the terms that should and shouldn’t be allowed to describe plant-based dairy?

  • Relative to other policy matters (novel food regulation, government funding or subsidies etc.), how important do you feel nomenclature is for the widespread uptake of alternative proteins?

Further Resources:

Alternative Seafood

Alternative Dairy

Alternative Textiles