Before the artificial meat reaches the level of delicious meat, it is the vegetarian chicken that may have to be “killed” first.
Editor’s note: This article is from WeChat public account “PingWest play” ( ID: wepingwest), author Cactus.
Before the artificial meat reaches the level of delicious meat, it is the vegetarian chicken that may be “killed” first.
On May 2, 2019, artificial meat manufacturer Beyond Meat was listed on the NASDAQ exchange. Its offer price was $25 per share. At the end of July, the stock price soared about 8.40 times to reach $234.90. The best IPO record for US stocks this year.
Spirited by the American artificial meat market, many large domestic food and meat products companies began to lay out artificial meat-related market and technology reserves, and a number of artificial meat startups also emerged. According to industry insiders, there are at least 10 artificial meat startups that have not been announced. Since “emerging industries have yet to wait and see”, most companies have not been favored by investors.
The artificial meat company, which has been awarded the seed round financing, is called “Zhen Meat” and has emerged among many entrepreneurial recruits. According to China Securities Network, on the evening of September 4th, “Zhen Meat” has reached a strategic cooperation with the domestic pea protein leading enterprise Shuangta Food, and launched the first “artificial meat moon cake” in China on September 6. The price of each box is 88. Yuan (6 pieces), a limited edition of 3,000 copies can be purchased at Taobao.
PingWest has received a sample of mooncakes in advance and conducted a tasting evaluation inside. This botanical artificial meat moon cake is imitation of the old seafood meat moon cake. The main raw materials come from soy protein and bowl of egg white. Its main selling point is: taste close to real meat, less oil, low fat, and zero cholesterol.
From the appearance, this plant artificial meat moon cake has a high degree of simulation, and it has a strong extrusion and will overflow with fat-like fat (actually vegetable oil and coconut oil). An internal tester said: “For the first artificial meat product, the performance of this moon cake can hit 3 points, it is really difficult to distinguish without telling.”
▲ “Rare Meat” artificial meat moon cake map
However, compared with real meat, the meat flavor is relatively monotonous, the texture is too Q-ball, chewingThe sense of fiber needs to be strengthened. The most important thing is to lose a little soul: meaty. Can be used as a fresh food experience, but it is difficult to really impress meat lovers.
There are some testers who said: “Although it is difficult to distinguish it from real meat, it can be judged from the taste experience that it is neither beef nor pork or chicken, nor is it fish. Then I feel a little panic.” /p>
These are the troubles and tests that artificial meat really encounters at the table.
▲ “Shenzhen” artificial meat moon cake squeeze texture
Artificial meat opens “artificial” hype tags
Artificial meat is currently divided into two types, one is plant protein meat made from plant protein, amino acid, fat, etc., and the other is animal that grows in animal culture in a culture dish. Cellular meat.”
In the United States and China, the artificial meat market is still based on plant protein meat. Plant protein meat has obvious mass production and cost advantages, animal cell meat factor technical cost, and ethical and safety risks. Stay in the laboratory stage.
The wording of artificial meat seems to be a weapon for the company’s own business, but it is mixed. Lu Zhongyu, the founder of “Zhen Meat”, told PingWest that they would like to play with the concept of a more friendly vegetable protein meat product. “What we have to do is plant protein food. The reason why we call it artificial is because humans redefine the way meat is produced by technology compared to traditional animal husbandry, slaughtering and processing.”
After solving the uneasiness and confusion brought about by “artificial”, the plant-based artificial protein meat has faced a challenge in the domestic market, which is to draw a clear technical boundary with the “sugar” of consumers.
▲Shanghai “Jian Delin” vegetarian products
In fact, the history of China was first recorded in the “Qi Min Yao Shu” in the Northern Wei Dynasty. At that time, there was a vegetarian food cooked with soy products. This kind of eating habit has been passed down to the present and evolved into soy products such as vegetarian chicken and national snacks.
HoweverThere is a technical difference between the two: the traditional vegetarian food is changed by mechanical suppression, and the process is rough; while the vegetable artificial protein meat is reconstructed from the molecular level. The latter reorganizes the plant protein molecules, and at the same time, according to the amino acid nutrients contained in the real meat, the mixture is heated, cooled, extruded and the like. If you want to be infinitely close to the real meat, you need a fairly high technical threshold.
“We are conducting a comprehensive research on the concept of 5D simulation, from color, fragrance, taste, sound and shape, to restore the true texture of a piece of meat as much as possible.” Lu Zhongyu introduced to PingWest “For example, the team of Food and Culture Li Jian from Beijing Technology and Business University focuses on flavor research, solves the problem of vegetable protein odor, and uses the molecules of natural plant sources to improve the taste of plant meat. At the same time, several teams are conquering other technologies. Difficulties.”
Healthy diet or viable benefits of artificial meat
Improving human health, actively influencing climate change, conserving natural resources, and maintaining animal welfare are the four brand missions marked on Beyond Meat’s official website in the United States. It is the most important artificial meat environmental benefit of the current artificial meat company. It is also a good motivation for consumers who are willing to try artificial meat.
A new study in Nature’s Scientific Reports shows that if everyone reduces meat consumption by a quarter and uses alternatives such as vegetable protein meat, it can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 82 million tons per year.
Although there is a growing body of data indicating that meat-free meals provide countless benefits to the environment, many scientists remain cautious about the environmentally friendly benefits of meatlessness.
Gidon Eshel, a professor of environmental and urban studies at Bard College, found in the study that while reducing the use of livestock meat to some extent reduces environmental stress, meat transfer may increase food-related water use by 15%. The NRDC report points out that during the period of reducing meat consumption, people may increase other food consumption, which is still a huge environmental cost.
“With its greenhouse gas emissions for cattle, the focus should be on reducing fossil fuel use. We need to pay close attention to the earth, not to the distraction of green peppers by asparagus.” Marty Matlock, professor of ecological engineering at the University of Arkansas, used to do this. Responding to artificial meat claims about its environmental benefits.