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NEW YORK (AFP) – Herbal meats are selling well in supermarkets and are no longer food in the suburbs. They are becoming a flagship product for fast food chains, industrial agri-food companies and Wall Street investors.
JPMorgan Chase estimated that the plant-based meat market could easily exceed 100 billion US dollars (136 billion Singapore dollars) in 15 years.
Barclays says the "alternative meat" market could account for about 10% of all global meat sales, up to 140 billion US dollars in 10 years.
Among the major restaurant chains, Burger King has been testing since April a vegetarian version of its flagship product, Whopper, while McDonald's unveiled a meatless burger in Germany. KFC is studying meatless options for its menu.
Alternatives to meat are not new, of course, but startups and other growing players in the sector have taken advantage of new technologies to more fully simulate the taste and texture of real meat.
At the same time, more and more consumers are opting for herbal products to protect the environment, the welfare of animals or for health reasons.
The best-known new companies, Impossible Food and Beyond Meat, sometimes struggled to meet growing demand for their products, even though Wall Street had bet on their potential.
During its first day on Wall Street as a publicly traded company, Beyond Meat jumped 163%, ending the session at 65.75 USD.
Since then, equities have more than doubled to $ 139.13 at the end of last Friday's session, a staggering 39.4% increase after the company announced sales growth. 140%.
Impossible Burger, already sold in more than 7,000 restaurants in the United States and Asia, recently raised $ 300 million in a round of financing pricing the company at $ 2 billion.
Among the big food companies, the Swiss giant Nestlé launched in April its "Incredible Burger" in Europe, based on soy, wheat and beetroot extracts and other plants.
In the fall, Nestlé plans to offer a Sweet Earth vegetarian hamburger to peas in the United States.
The Anglo-Dutch company Unilever bought last year the Vegetarian Butcher, which aims to become the "biggest butcher in the world" with herbal meat.
The American company Kellogg has been present in replacement meats since the 1970s via MorningStar Farms. Although the brand has not experienced the same exceptional gains lately, it remains the largest producer in the United States.
The Brazilian giant JBS, which launches a vegetarian hamburger on its national market, and Tyson Foods, a sole investor of Beyond Meat, is planning its own herbal product.
Replacement meat sales rose 23% in 2018 in the United States, according to the Food Institute.
Yet this represents only 1% of the total market for meat, which is well below the 13% of milk represented by non-dairy sources such as soy, almonds and coconut.
Despite the strong potential, badysts caution against losing sight of some of the uncertainties facing the industry.
"There are risk factors to consider, such as alternative meat products being less healthy than what is claimed due to additives that may appeal to customers," said the Barclays note.
Barclays also referred to "potential regulatory restrictions" until marketing.
For example, farmer groups have been lobbying Washington to limit the term "meat" to animal products.
In addition, there is always a risk that emerging corporate stars will be spoiled by a recall, said JPMorgan.
And the impact of the mistakes could be amplified by the growing presence of larger and more diversified companies that are entering the market. Clbadic businesses also have sophisticated supply chains and easy access to capital.
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