Why is plant-based meat important?
Like cultivated meat and fermentation-derived products, plant-based meat is better for the planet, people, and animals.
Analyses of the environmental impact of plant-based meat show that plant-based meat production uses 72-99 percent less water and 47-99 percent less land. Further, it causes 51-91 percent less water pollution and emits 30-90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions. By transitioning to plant-based meat and other alternative proteins, we can use far fewer natural resources and enable entire ecosystems — and the biodiversity those systems support — to recover, function, and thrive.
Plant-based meat production does not require any antibiotics. This helps address the broad overuse of antibiotics in meat production. According to the New York Times, in the United States, between 70 and 80 percent of antibiotics sold are consumed by farm animals. On our current trajectory, we are rapidly creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs and risk causing the end of working antibiotics. By shifting to alternative proteins like plant-based meat, we can significantly decrease antibiotic use in our food production and keep antibiotics working for human health and wellbeing. By taking animals out of the equation, plant-based meat also significantly lowers the risk of future pandemics.
How is plant-based meat made?
Animal meat is primarily muscle tissue. Plants don’t have muscles. So how do the plants we see growing in a field become a piece of meat that looks, smells, tastes, and cooks like animal meat?
At its simplest level, animal meat is made up of protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. Though plants don’t have muscles, they do contain protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. Plant-based meat takes advantage of this biochemical similarity between plants and animals.
For every protein, lipid, or functional compound in the dozen or two animal species we typically eat, we can look for an analog or replacement in the plant kingdom. If a replacement doesn’t exist in nature, we can try to make it through mechanical, chemical, or biological treatment of a plant ingredient.
The unique spatial arrangement of proteins in muscle tissue creates the distinct texture of animal meat. Chopped or minced meat has a simpler texture and is easier to replicate than larger pieces of animal meat like chicken breasts and pork chops which are made from intact muscle tissue. The spatial arrangement of proteins in these whole-muscle types of products is integral to the texture. Thus, not surprisingly, there are more technical challenges to overcome in order to biomimic whole cuts of animal meat with plant ingredients.
The general method used to produce plant-based meat involves three primary steps. First, we grow crops as a source of raw materials. Second, we process these crops to get rid of the parts of the plants we don’t want. At this stage, we end up with the proteins, fats, and fiber ingredients that will become our plant-based meat product. Finally, we put together the desired mixture of ingredients. This ingredient mixture then goes through a manufacturing process to create the muscle-like texture needed for meat.
Whether we are making plant-based burgers, chicken kebabs, pork dumplings, or sashimi, these same general production steps apply. The rest of this page summarizes each of these three technology sectors – crop development, ingredient optimization, and end product formulation and manufacturing – in more detail. We highlight the current state, existing challenges, and forward-looking opportunities for each technology sector.
What is plant-based meat?
Plant-based meat is produced directly from plants. Instead of relying on an animal to convert plants into meat, we can make meat more efficiently by skipping the animal and turning plant ingredients directly into meat.
Like animal-based meat, plant-based meat is composed of protein, fat, vitamins, minerals, and water. Next-generation plant-based meat looks, cooks, and tastes like conventional meat.
