08 January. Will society refuse meat and will the insect protein become a new trend in gastronomy? These issues are today worrying about the global meat market.
With the advent of meat grown in the laboratory on the market, food industry giants try to reconcile themselves with the realities and keep pace with the times in which animal proteins have ceased to be the main source of nutrients for humans.
Global changes that occur in this area can be seen on the example of some international corporations.
So, WH Group - the largest pork producer in China - acquired the American company Smithfield Foods in connection with debts that the company can not repay.
The leader, changing the view of gastronomy, is Hong Kong businessman David Yeon. He is the organizer of the campaign "Green Monday", in which people are called upon to refuse at least one day a week from eating meat, without forcing to refuse to use it completely.
Unlike vegetarians who call for the abstinence from consuming meat products (meat, eggs and dairy products) completely, Yeon adheres to the idea of flexibility in the conscious selection of the diet - he calls for ethical issues and environmental protection in this matter.
Yong set a rather ambitious goal - to reduce the consumption of meat and seafood. It should be noted that according to the company Euromonitor, Hong Kong is one of the world leaders in the consumption of meat and seafood per capita.
David Young is the owner of a network of cafes that prepare Western dishes in the Asian manner. When cooking the cook's meals, café chains use products manufactured by Beyond Meat, a California company that develops a new generation of food products with the support of billionaire Bill Gates and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The company produces plant-based proteins that have the same fiber structure as animal proteins.
Each cafe is combined with a store in which you can buy products from which dishes are prepared. According to the entrepreneur himself, "buyers would not know what to do with these products, if they did not have a prescription, and they would not try these ingredients in familiar dishes."
On the shelves you can see not only algae spreads and fast food products from soybeans, but also various types of milk based on nuts from Califia Farms and Daiya (a company that produces cheese without using dairy products).
Outside of Hong Kong, the almost vegetarian menu of David Yon is established in 2,000 schools and corporate cafes in more than 30 countries.
In view of the growing debate over state taxes on the production of meat products after the Paris Agreement on Climate, more people are trying to use natural resources wisely and hope for changes in the regulation mechanism of this sphere.
According to the UN, the greenhouse gases emitted by large and small cattle constitute about 15% of the world's emissions. Chinese legislators have been thinking for two years about introducing a special levy from meat producers, but the proposals put forward do not find a proper response either among companies or among citizens. But it should be understood that meat can comprehend the same thing, that it has suffered tobacco, coal and sweet fizzy drinks. In the meantime, to meet the global demand for meat and meat products, China has concluded a deal worth $ 300 million to import proteins grown in the laboratory.
The gradual understanding by consumers that climate change depends in part on what they eat and the persistent desire to prevent an environmental disaster is likely to help develop research on "food grown in the laboratory." This can be seen on the example of many companies, for example, the company Odontella, which produces a salmon substitute based on seaweed or Ocean Hugger Foods, which imitates tuna from tomatoes, Sunfed Meats, which produces chicken "meat" from the protein of legumes.
Even the most famous giants of the industry did not remain indifferent to this idea. For example, Nestle acquired the production of vegetarian products from Sweet Earth, Cargill invested in Memphis Meats (a company that grows meat without an animal).
