Recently Steve Molino commented on LinkedIn on VC investment in alternative proteins. A few thoughts on the data:
1 Cultivated Meat – With the culture wars in the US as evidenced by states like Florida criminalising the production or even consumption of cultivated meat, who would invest in such an uncertain regulatory market? The EU is a nightmare with their Novel Foods legislation, so ditto for that market.
2 Plantbased products – In my opinion most products still don’t taste good. The tunnel vision of some companies on the healthiness and sustainability of their products is working against the market. Just make them taste good! The current Ultra-Propaganda around so called “Ultra Processed Foods” is another negative factor that probably won’t go away any time soon. So, not much joy for investors there.
3 Fermentation – These products are not currently getting the same pushback as meat alternatives, so there’s still time to get ahead of the curve.
My advice here is tell the public that their cheese is a food made with the product of a genetically modified organism (Fermentation Produced Chymosin). No one I’ve told this fact to says they’re going to stop eating cheese! (Oh, their crusty bread is also probably a food made with the product of a genetically modified organism (amylase)) Many high end infant formulas contain Human Milk Oligosaccharides to help mimic human milk. Many are a product of a genetically modified organism.
How much petroleum did you eat today?
Ask consumers how much petroleum they ate recently? Vanillin, almond, lemon flavours, artificial food colours, all derived from petroleum. They even brush their teeth with petroleum derived products! Would they say “ick” if they knew?
Yes, all of these products are currently deemed food safe in many countries, but then so are the products of genetically modified organisms!
What about the Future?
I wonder why companies still insist on a US or other advanced food country strategy? How many tens of millions of dollars or more have been spent trying to get Australian, US citizens etc. to eat less meat? How successful has that been? These countries are a lost cause for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile developing food system countries continue to follow in the footsteps of advanced food system countries, opening themselves up to the same problems of enormous nutrient inputs, pollution, increased GHG emissions, reliance on imports, etc. Why?
Surely all of this money would be better spent helping developing countries to develop more sustainable, healthier food systems?
The irony of all this is that, while staying within planetary boundaries, there’s not enough arable land or fresh water on the planet to feed the current global population the way we eat in food rich countries like the US, Australia etc. let alone in 2050. We need VC investment in alternative proteins and some of us will need to eat these alternative protein and other products or there’s going to be a 2 class food system, with possibly billions of people suffering food shortages.
