On its own, “cellular agriculture” may not sound that exciting. The act of producing agricultural products from cell cultures probably conjures up imagery of little science experiments in petri dishes … yet it is from those tiny glass saucers that a potential multibillion dollar market is out transform the food industry as we know it.
A major segment that is grabbing headlines is cultured meat, or vegetarian meat (or fake meat, if you prefer). This field is still in its early stages and has only just begun to successfully deliver products to market that would have been made with little to no animal involvement that people also enjoy consuming.
According to data via Jefferies, the alternative meat market is on track to grow to $240 billion (USD) over the next two decades. Stockhouse has been following this market since it started making waves a few years ago and consumer trends were obviously changing even then.
A major hurdle for this industry was the high cost of production, but labs have been decreasing their costs while increasing their products. We could soon see this new method become more practical and efficient than the traditional method of harvesting meat, which would be good news for the roughly 56 billion animals slaughtered every year for meat consumption.
Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are two popular names that are known for their work to make this future a reality, but an emerging player in the field with a different approach is California food technology company Memphis Meats.
Unlike others in this space, this five-year old startup has a “clean meat” or “cultured meat” process that uses tissue engineering to create real animal meat, without actually growing a real animal. Major investors include Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) the largest producer of processed chicken and beef in the US, as well as international food conglomerate Cargill, along with the likes of Bill Gates and Richard Branson. In January 2020, Memphis Meats raised $161 million in its latest round of financing, led by Japan’s SoftBank Group. This brings its total funding above $180 million.
Some of the major drivers of the alternative meat, specifically cellular agriculture as a whole, include consumer awareness over its proposed health benefits, as well as attention to the fact that cultured meat production could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 96%, decrease energy consumption by 45%, free-up land use by 99% and ease on water consumption by 96% all compared to traditional industrial farming for the same mass of food, according to a study by Oxford University.
Even so, meat is still king. 30% of the calories people consume around the world come from meat products. According to CB Insights data, the meat market is worth $1.8 trillion. The USDA reported that Americans consume 220 lbs. of red meat and poultry were consumed per capita in 2018, a near record. Compare that to 167 lbs. in 1967.
Have these protein alternatives inspired a change in either your diet or investment portfolio? Let us know in the comments below.