Beyond Meat
has a Californian address and a grand, disruptive ambition: changing what people
eat.
Beyond Meat
makes what it calls “plant-based meat products”, and what most people call
veggie burgers and veggie sausages. Unlike some rival products, which are
merely hamburger-shaped, Beyond Meat’s patties resemble the real thing.
Meat-eaters
are the firm’s target market. Only about
5% of Americans describe themselves as vegetarians, and it is not clear why
they would want to eat something that closely resembles animal flesh. Carve a
slice off the gigantic meat trade, though, and you might have a good business.
Look at what has happened to milk, says Beyond Meat’s prospectus. Non-dairy
versions made from almonds, soya and other things are now one-eighth the size
of the dairy milk market in America. Non-flesh meat could grab a similar share of
the meat market, or perhaps an even larger one.
A powerful
environmental case can be made for the stuff, argues Beyond Meat’s founder and
boss, Ethan Brown. The livestock industry accounts for about 15% of greenhouse-gas
emissions.
Yet Beyond
Meat is not the only company trying to cut into the meat business. Another
Californian outfit, Impossible Foods, sells its plant-based products through
Burger King, among others. Anyway, it
was possible to order veggie burgers at Burger King before the Impossible
Whopper came along.
It is not
obvious that more people are hungry for alternatives to meat. According to the
US Department of Agriculture, the average American is eating more beef, pork
and chicken than a couple of years ago. Britain’s Family Food survey shows a
rise in meat consumption between 2015 and 2016-17 (the most recent period for
which data exists). The parallel with non-dairy milk seems dubious. Many people
sip soya milk not because they disapprove of dairy products or want to save the
planet, but because they are lactose intolerant.
The meat
industry has seen the challengers coming- In several American states, and in
France, legislators have written laws reserving the word “meat” for animal
products. In Nebraska, the effort has been led by a state senator with the
wonderful name of Carol Blood.
From The Economist (edited)
