Host of companies launch plant-based meat

Since plant-based meat producer Beyond Meat listed in the United States in 2019, enterprises for alternative proteins have been booming around the world.

Modern Meat, founded in 2019, is a plant-based alternative meat company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Their plant-based meat products such as burgers, crabcakes and meatballs are made of ingredients such as pea protein, chickpea flour, mushrooms and brown rice. The company also produces plant-based seasonings.

Meanwhile, Israel's alternative protein sector has experienced its biggest investment year on record.

MeaTech 3D is an international food company based in Rehovot, southern Israel and is a leader in the field of 3D bioprinting cultured meat. It has developed a new technology that can produce complex meat products with pinpoint precision without affecting cell viability, which is a breakthrough in the mass production of cell-based meat.

Another Israeli company, Savor-Eat, uses 3D printing technology to produce plant-based meat. Its burgers are made with a combination of potato, chickpea and pea protein. Last year, it launched a plant-based burger system to provide customized patties for each customer. Customers can order their burgers with different ingredients at a 3D printer.

Wang Fengzhong, director of the Chinese Academy's Agricultural Sciences' Institute of Agro-Products Processing Science and Technology, said Israel's development in cell-based meat can be an example for China, which has just started scientific research projects in the sector.

In recent years, several domestic startups joined the cell-based proteins sector.

CellX is a cellular agriculture company based in Shanghai, which develops cultivated meat products. Founded in 2020, the company said it has developed several cell-based meat products including structured meat produced by 3D bioprinting. Now the company is working to scale up production and reduce costs.

Similar to CellX, cultured meat companies such as Joes Future Food in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, and Hong Kong's Avant Meats respectively obtained financing worth tens of millions of yuan in 2021, according to China Food News.

For plant-based meat, many products developed by domestic companies are popular choices in the market.

In 2020, Be&Cheery, a popular snack brand in China, launched plant-based meat products including packages of smoked sausages and spicy beef.

Another plant-based food company Hey Maet debuted its first product, a plant-based meat zongzi, at the Dragon Boat Festival in 2020. The company has launched a variety of best-selling products such as burgers, steamed buns and soup dumplings in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.