CCD Innovation on lab-grown meat & plant-based burgers

Yes, we are talking often about both plant-based burgers and now lab-grown meat; read more about these hot topics and our insights in these articles.

Awesome Burger Nestlé’s Answer to Plant-based Meat Craze by Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN Business, September 25, 2019 – While it may seem like plant-based burgers came out of nowhere in 2019, that’s not the case. As CCD Innovation’s Kara Nielsen explains, exciting vegetables and plant-based main dishes took off around 2010 with farmer’s markets, veg-loving chefs, farm-to-table dining, celebrity vegans like Bill Clinton, Mark Bittman’s VB6 proposal (eating vegan before 6 pm), and public health efforts such as Meatless Monday. With this latest flexitarian protein push, new food + tech + investment companies have stepped into the spotlight. Traditional Big Food brands are now rushing to get their own offerings to market, including Nestlé and its Awesome Burger, from Sweet Earth, a vegan frozen food brand the Swiss company acquired in 2017.

Is lab-grown meat the next frontier in ethical eating? By Stephanie Hogan, CBC News (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), September 12, 2019 – As efforts increase for new ways to sustainably produce protein for human consumption, lab-grown meat is joining the race to the plate. This isn’t plant-based burgers made from wheat, soy or pea protein but rather real beef meat tissue grown in a lab from stem cells. Called “cultured,” “clean,” or “lab-grown,” this future beef supply chain takes some getting used to. Kara Nielsen points out that it’s a foreign concept, but one with advantages. It will taste, look and smell like meat from a cow, but no cows were raised or slaughtered in the process. “It certainly wins on you-didn’t-kill-a-cow-to-eat-this-burger.” Kara wonders if consumers will accept this production method, and suspects many will eventually.