Organisation:

Food Industry Asia

Resource Link:

Published in 2021, Link

My Key Takeaways

I’m always slightly amused when western agrifood companies gush over plant-based proteins.

Reason being the traditional Asian diet already has a large variety of protein “alternatives” like jackfruit, tofu, & tempeh.

This probably explains why 1 in 2 Chinese consumers are also likely to consume cultivated meats.

For non-traditional proteins, investment has reached record levels in recent years, with a staggering US$3.1 billion invested in 2020 across plant-based meat, eggs and dairy; cultivated meats; and fermentation alternatives.

Food Industry Asia (FIA)’s new report predicts the growth of protein consumption in the Asia-5 (#China, #Indonesia, #Philippines, #Thailand, #Vietnam):

• From 2000 to 2019, rising incomes in Asia led to protein consumption increasing 63%! This is staggering compared to N. America (6%), EU (8%), & LatAm (7%).

• Under the “healthy diets” scenario, the share of plant-based proteins in East Asia could increase to two-thirds in 2030.

• The share of meats could be halved relative to both 2019 & 2030 BAU levels.

• Watch closely Asia’s national food security policies [e.g. Indonesia’s 2012 Food Law, China’s Five-Year-Action Plan]. Under the “Food security scenario”, plant-based proteins’ share in Asia-5 could grow from 59% to 85% in the next 10 years.

These short to mid term growth trends will uncover co-innovation opportunities for European and UK companies venturing into Asia:

• Novel feedstock for plant-based proteins

Only three (pea, soy, pulses) of 150 key agriculture species are widely used in plant-based proteins today. Over 250,000 known plant species are not yet used in agriculture – untapped commercial potential!

• Sustainable production

Plant-based meats reduce land usage, water usage, & greenhouse gas emissions by over 95% versus animal-based meats. Yet, more can be done to develop sustainable feedstock for plant-based meats.

For instance, almonds are often suggested as a large potential feedstock with high protein content of 14% per kg, but require more than 16,000L of water to produce, and release 2.3 kg of greenhouse gas emissions.

What about more sustainable options like lentils (higher protein content of 25%, using less than 6,000L of water per kg, and releasing only 0.9kg of emissions)?

• Feedstock safety

Regulators have been concerned about the safety of contaminated microalgae-based proteins derived from open marine systems as well as allergies triggered from feedstock like nuts.

There is a need for public-private co-innovation on best practice food safety regulatory frameworks for alternative proteins.

Existing references include FDA’s Safe (GRAS) database, Singapore being the first worldwide to approve the sale of cultivated meat products [Eat Just’s cultured chicken bites in Dec 2020]

• Health & Nutrition

Differences between Western & Asian phenotypes could influence the latter’s tolerance towards food groups, ingredients, & recommended consumption levels.

• Aquaculture

90% of global wild-caught fish stocks surpassed biological limits for sustainable production.

The situation is particularly acute in Southeast Asia where there is heavy dependency on seafood for both production and consumption.

For example, 70% of fish stocks in the Philippines were overfished in 2017 with 90% of fish caught consumed locally.

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The FIA report models protein consumption growth in Asia by analysing different future scenarios like Business-as-Usual, Healthy Diets, Food Security, & Resource Constraints.

The above scenarios are not mutually exclusive, and there’s a good chance of all trends playing out simultaneously in the next decade.

Policy makers, producers and agrifood tech providers need to start thinking about the above trends and their implications to global food value chains, today.

My LinkedIn post here.

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About Zhilin SIM

Having worked and lived in Singapore, the Nordics, China, Spain, UK, I’m now based in Paris.

I’m fluent in English, French and Mandarin, and I’m learning Arabic because it’s a beautiful and fascinating language.

My team creates and supports one-many initiatives connecting Corporate and Startup ecosystems in Europe to business and innovation opportunities in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

I’m passionate about horticulture, watercolour, startups/tech as well as French cuisine, Peranakan kueh techniques and other global cuisines.

Feel free to connect with me if you think my network in Europe and Asia could be of benefit to your business and innovation activities.