Session 2

Plant-based Meat

When attempting to develop alternatives to animal-farmed meat, it is necessary to first define what we mean by "meat." Do we examine the composition of proteins, fats, and minerals at the molecular level? Is it necessary to create animal cells and tissues? Does it matter as long as it closely resembles the organoleptic properties (taste, texture, colour, and aroma) of animal-based meat?

This session encourages you to rethink meat and how we can create a similar sensory experience with plants. It also shows that, despite recent advances in plant-based meat technology, we have barely scratched the surface regarding the potential for crop, texturisation, and nutrition optimisation to improve plant-based meat (PBM).

Core Material

You are required to read/watch these and think about the discussion prompts. We expect that you will need ~1 hr to go through these resources.

Good Food Institute MOOC Lecture 3: Leveraging plants to create plant-based meat video and slides
GFI - Lecture (25 min)
The science of Plant-based meat
GFI - Article (10 min)

A review of research on plant-based meat alternatives: driving forces, history, manufacturing, and consumer attitudes
He et al. (2020) - Article (required reading only includes abstract, introduction and conclusion, 15 min)

For those interested in policy, here’s an additional (optional) resource:

Plant-Based Meat Regulations and White Space Opportunities - Video and Slides (Start at 36:30/slide 45, 30 min)

Exercise

Select one of the following exercises depending on your interest:

Reflect on the current challenges for manufacturing of plant-based meat (could be related to texturization, flavor, nutrition, etc.). Identify the challenge you find most interesting and write a paragraph on potential solutions to address it.

Reflect on the challenges to consumer acceptance of plant-based meat. Survey (using your preferred medium) at least 5 of your friends/family and identify what stops them from buying plant-based meat. Write a paragraph on potential solutions to address it.

Share your reflections with your cohort during the session.

Debate

Your facilitator will pick groups of participants to argue for and against. You will have ~10 mins in breakout rooms in your teams to prepare your arguments before beginning the debate. This week's debate will be in support of/against the following statement:

“Meat comes from animals. Products that mimic meat but are plant-based should not be considered meat!”

Core Discussion Prompts

How would you define the term "meat"?
Labelling is becoming a contentious regulatory issue across the alternative protein space (we will dig more into plant-based dairy labelling in week 5). How important do you think labelling (e.g. whether PBM can be advertised as "meat" or "burgers" or "sausages"’) is for consumers?
When developing plant-based meat (PBM), which properties of animal meat (AM) are likely to be the most important to consumers? For example, nutrition, texture, taste, smell, and so on. Which of these properties do you believe current PBM offerings are least capable of replicating?

Additional Discussion Prompts

Mimicking meat

How closely do you think the flavours of animal meat and plant-based meat currently available are comparable? This might be challenging if you haven't had AM in a while! If PBM isn't already indistinguishable from AM, do you think it will ever be, or is there a limit to how close it can get?
For many people, the cooking process is as important as the finished product. Consider how the organoleptic properties of meat change during cooking (visual cues, aromas, and so on). To what extent do you believe the PBM should attempt to mimic AM at all stages of cooking (raw, during cooking, and cooked)? Which of these do you think is the most difficult to replicate?

Is mimicking meat the right way to go?

Should food manufacturers strive for exact replication of animal meat? PBM requires extensive processing to convert plant building blocks into structures that resemble meat. Would it be better to aim for less processed options that taste less like AM, or would this simply fail to convert consumers? Is processing always a bad thing?
Traditional plant-based protein sources, such as seitan and tofu in China and tempeh in Indonesia, are part of certain countries' culinary traditions. Nonetheless, these countries are among those with the fastest growth in animal meat consumption. Why do you believe this is happening?

Crop Optimization

How related is plant-based meat science to agricultural science? How might plant-based meat researchers benefit from working with the agricultural community to advance these technologies?
For decades, we have optimised crops for oil production (i.e. soy, canola), making them almost ubiquitous. Now they are beginning to be seen as sources of protein. Weigh up the pros and cons of the following three options:
- Re-engineering these crops to prioritise protein production
- Better utilise the protein-rich side streams of the oil production process
- Focusing on optimising other crops for PBM
Which crops seem promising for further research, regarding their viability as contributors to future plant-based meats (MOOC Lecture 3, slides 11–14)? How might we go about determining which crops seem most promising?
How might the inclusion of synthetic biology tools in ingredient production (i.e., use of bulk GMO-soy or incorporation of recombinant haem proteins in products) affect the image or acceptance of PBM? Impossible Foods embraces them, while Beyond Meat condemns them. Should the industry have a unified position in this respect?

Texturisation

Currently, more unstructured PBM products (burgers, sausages, etc.) are available than whole-cut PBM products (steaks, chicken breasts). Why? What are the technical bottlenecks? How do you think this affects the image of plant-based products with consumers? How can this be solved?
Coating is applied to extruded products due to a loss of flavour and aroma compounds that results from the extrusion process itself. There is also “fat leaching” from the fibre network due to constriction. What are the consequences of these two phenomena? Do you think this is important for the final product? How might we avoid these?

Consumer perception

To what extent do you think the AM industry profits from the trend of “natural eating” and “clean label” foods? How much do you think the processing involved in producing PBM impacts its healthiness? How does this compare to health risks associated with AM consumption, such as colorectal cancer from red meat or heart disease from intake of LDL-derived cholesterol?
Do you think consumers are more concerned about personal impacts of their food such as personal health or global impacts such as climate change? What kinds of actions could shift this focus (if it needs to be shifted at all)?
PBMs usually cost more than their animal-based counterparts in retail settings. How might this impact the development of the industry and the expansion of PBM adoption among mainstream consumers?
How might the inclusion of synthetic biology tools in ingredient production (i.e., use of bulk GMO-soy or incorporation of recombinant haem proteins in products) affect the image or acceptance of PBM? Impossible Foods embraces them, while Beyond Meat condemns them. Should the industry have a unified position in this respect?

Regulation

Do you think the EU is justified in having separate novel food approval processes for GMO and non-GMO? What could be the impact of this on the development of alternative proteins in the EU vs elsewhere?

Whitespaces

Of the business whitespaces identified, where do you see the greatest opportunity and which would you be best-placed to work on?
Can you think of any white spaces not mentioned?

Further Resources

These are not mandatory, but they provide some additional context/information if you would like to find out more:

PBM Overview