Food From Thought: May 2022

Beyond Meat debuts Jerky, Aleph Farms cultivated meat to be tested in space, Outstanding Foods launches the first ever dairy-free cheese balls, Upside Foods is valued at over $1 billion, and more

May 13

With Earth Day 2022 having officially come and gone, the chances are pretty good that most people were recently exposed to something that made them consider the environmental impacts of their food choices.

While recent surveys have suggested that health and animal welfare are often at the forefront of purchasing incentives, the effects of diet on the planet are undeniable at this point.

The global food system is changing, and consumers are making decisions around how to best vote with their dollar based on all sorts of things.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of alternative proteins as both plant-based alternatives and cellular agriculture gain global traction — and consumer attention.

As we crawl our way out of the last two years of pandemic fog, many consumers are emerging with new perspectives. In addition to a deep desire to make health-related changes, they’re looking for ways to live that will also support planetary health.

The path to change has been paved and the interest is there.

Challenges are keeping up with ever-increasing consumer demand while figuring out how to boost production efficiency. Alternative protein companies are facing these challenges head-on, while also aiming to achieve price parity and make their products more attractive to consumers regardless of personal motivations.

All of these factors continue to stretch and change the food system as we’ve known it. Eventually, choosing a plant-based burger, an eggless egg, and a cultivated chicken nugget could very well be the norm, making industrial animal agriculture as we know it outdated and obsolete.

This is the future. Can you see it?