The global "artificial meat" market share will reach 60% in 2040
Wang Shouwei said that the rise of "artificial meat" originated from the new challenges faced by the development of human society. "Artificial meat" is a term used by general consumers and the media to refer to non-naturally produced foods that resemble meat, but it is not an official term. At present, "artificial meat" is usually divided into two categories: plant protein meat and cell culture meat.
‘artificial meat’ has great commercialization potential, and increasing investment in science and technology is an important direction for the industry in the future. "Wang Shouwei said that in recent years, the main processing technology of vegetable protein meat has become mature at home and abroad. Many companies have developed vegetable protein meat products using vegetable protein as raw materials in China, and the market has grown very rapidly; some domestic research institutions and The company has many years of research and development practice, and some products are on the market. The research of using animal stem cells to produce cell-grown meat has also made significant progress. Many foreign companies have announced that they can develop cell-grown meat in the laboratory.
According to the latest report of Kearney Global Management Consulting, the global market share of "artificial meat" will reach 60% by 2040, of which 35% of meat will be cultivated in the laboratory, that is, "cultivated meat." 25% will be plant protein meat based on plant-based alternatives.
Wang Shouwei said that the plant protein meat production market has great potential and a high degree of commercialization. In the future, the development of products that are more similar to real meat has become the direction of the industry or the scientific and technological community. Cell cultured meat is the closest product to real meat. It has a huge market potential. In the future, the focus will be on the two important areas of production cost reduction and large-scale production. Of course, biologically cultivated meat still has some cutting-edge science and technology to be broken through.
"Artificial meat" supervision regulations and standards urgently need to be standardized
In response to the supervision of "artificial meat", Wang Shouwei made suggestions. He said that scientific and rigorous standards are the cornerstone of the healthy development of the industry. In my country, the current development momentum of the vegetable protein meat industry has been formed, and the product categories are relatively mature, but the existing regulations and standards are not compatible with product innovation and industry development. Internationally, soy hemoglobin, a key compound of vegetable protein meat, has been approved for marketing by the US Food and Drug Administration in the United States. The Food Safety Authority of Australia and New Zealand has also announced that it intends to include vegetable protein meat in the food, which is in the publicity stage.
"At present, vegetable protein meat needs further research and demonstration in my country." Wang Shouwei told the Beijing News reporter that in fact, the national standard for vegetable protein meat started in 2019, and the project will be formally approved in 2020. It needs to be submitted for approval and solicitation. There is no timetable for comments, announcements and other links. In addition, a reporter from the Beijing News also noted that 2020 will be the year that “plant-based protein meat” food will be concentrated on the market. The group standard for “plant-based protein meat” formulated by the China Plant-based Food Industry Alliance is expected to be released in the first half of 2020.
Regarding the safety assurance and supervision of "future food", Gu Shaoping, deputy director of the Food Safety Production Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, said in a speech at the 2019 Future Food Summit Forum that in the face of new technologies, new industries, new formats and new models, the State Administration will In accordance with the State Council’s guidance on strengthening regulation during and after the event, and in accordance with the principle of encouraging innovation, leave enough room for development; at the same time, we must adhere to the bottom line of quality and safety and further strengthen technical support.
The Chinese Academy of Engineering has launched a strategic study on "cultivating meat"
Regarding the progress of cell-grown meat, Wang Shouwei said that the research and development of cell-grown meat in my country is still in its infancy, but the development speed is very fast, and research on standards and regulatory methods has begun. He said that in October 2019, Sun Baoguo, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Beijing Technology and Business University formally proposed to the Academy of Engineering to establish a regulatory framework for laboratory-grown meat. "The proposal has been approved. The Chinese Academy of Engineering will officially launch the "Strategic Research on the Development of Biological Cultivation Meat for the Strategic Consulting Project of the Chinese Academy of Engineering" from January 1, 2020. The length of the study is tentatively set for one year. Later, there will be strategic research results on the technology, standards, and supervision of cell culture meat, which will play a very effective role in promoting the development of technology and science in our country. "Wang Shouwei told the Beijing News reporter.
From an international perspective, in October 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration jointly held a press conference on cell-grown meat. In March 2019, the two departments further announced that they had established a regulatory framework for laboratory-grown meat. It has a complete supervision system, forming a closed-loop management system. The EU’s new food regulations clearly stipulate that food produced from cell-grown meat or animal-derived tissue culture will be treated as a “new food” for management. Therefore, Wang Shouwei suggested that the future management of our country should also develop in a more scientific and rigorous direction.
In addition, Wang Shouwei also suggested that "artificial meat" should increase investment in science and technology in the innovation and development of "artificial meat" to solve the remaining scientific and technological problems of "artificial meat"; at the same time, establish a sound regulatory system to promote the market-oriented development of "artificial meat" industry , It is recommended to conduct a systematic safety assessment of the new components and new production processes added in the production of "artificial meat", and form a complete set of independent standard system and objective supervision system in terms of product safety and nutritional composition evaluation to promote the industry Benign development. In addition, in terms of popular science, consumers need to be guided to correctly understand and rationally consume "artificial meat."
Wang Shouwei said that "artificial meat" provides the possibility to effectively guarantee the meat food supply for humans in the future, and at the same time, "artificial meat" also provides consumers with more choices.