How big is the market potential for hybrid products made from plant-based ingredients and cellular agriculture?
Though the sector is still emerging, hybrid food products that combine plant-based and precision fermented or cultivated ingredients have the potential to bring many positive changes to the food industry.
By supplying consumers with the best of both worlds (plant-based and cellular agriculture – cultivated and fermentation), hybrid products can respond to increasing consumer demand for healthier, more sustainable, and more ethical – but tasty – food products.
This article will explore opportunities in the hybrid plant-based and cellular agriculture foods sector, looking at expert research to make recommendations for businesses in this growing space.
Understanding hybrid products
Consumer food preferences are changing. More people are searching for foods that satisfy health, sustainability, and ethical motivations. As a result, an increasing number of consumers are moving towards a more plant-based diet.
Meanwhile, innovators around the world are creating new lines of animal-free products through cellular agriculture. Just like plant-based foods, cultivated and precision fermented meat and dairy offer many benefits in terms of taste, health, food justice, animal welfare, and the environment compared to conventional animal products.
Though it will be some years before cellular agriculture meat and dairy products are widely accessible and affordable, there are opportunities to combine plant-based with cultivated/fermented ingredients (in varying degrees) to respond more quickly to consumer demands.
Plant-based, cultivated, and precision fermented products are not mutually exclusive categories. Instead, they form a highly promising complementary strategy and there is great synergy between traditional plant-based and cellular agriculture approaches. Not only can they be used to improve and complement one another, but also to overcome industry barriers.
“Knowing that taste and health are two of the most important purchase drivers when it comes to plant-based foods, hybrid products show a strong potential to respond to consumer demand.”
The advantages of hybrid products
Here are some of the most promising advantages of hybrid foods, as stated by the developers of this technology:
- Enhanced taste and texture compared to traditional plant-based products.
Plant-based products can benefit from certain cultivated or precision fermented animal ingredients to provide an enhanced meaty texture and taste. For example, a few companies are focusing on one special animal-based ingredient which they claim could enhance the desirability of plant-based products: fat. This satiating component is said to play a key role in the experience of eating meat – it is thought to provide a specific flavor, texture, and appealing juiciness that many people crave.
Considering that 90% of plant-based food consumers are neither vegetarian nor vegan,2 replicating the right meaty, fatty flavor is important when it comes to plant-based meat products.
“I think it was overlooked that the most important part of meat, taste-wise, is fat. Fat is what makes meat so delicious, bringing juiciness and a unique marbling. And this is what we can replicate using cultivated fat in hybrid products.”
- Increased versatility in product development.
By varying the ratio of cultivated/precision fermented to plant-based components, food manufacturers can increasingly tailor a product’s properties (e.g., firmness, chewiness, or moisture retention) to suit different culinary applications, from burgers to steaks.
- Flavor masking.
Plant-based ingredients can sometimes have off-putting flavors (e.g., beany or grassy notes). Developers claim that the flavors provided by cultivated/precision fermented ingredients can help mask these, resulting in a more neutral or appealing taste.
- Added nutrition.
Developers can tweak a product’s nutritional content through plant-based, cultivated, or fermented ingredients. For example, in the case of cultivated meat products, added plant-based ingredients can increase fiber content, appealing to consumers looking for additional nutritional elements. Meanwhile, in plant-based products, using cultivated fat instead of plant-based ingredients like coconut oil can reduce the concentration of saturated fats for healthier saturated fats, 3 Adding cultivated animal fat to a plant-based product can also minimize the number of binding agents, flavorings, and other ingredients traditionally used in some plant-based food products, resulting in cleaner-label products.
- Reduced production costs and resource use compared to fully cultivated or precision fermented products.
Cultivated and precision fermented meat and dairy are currently expensive to produce. Blending ingredients made through cellular agriculture with more affordable plant-based ones can reduce the overall cost and scale-up expenditure, bringing products with cultivated or precision fermented ingredients to retail quicker and making them more accessible to consumers.
- Easier to scale than products produced through cellular agriculture.
The plant-based portion can be produced at scale more easily and affordably than cultivated/precision fermented meat, facilitating larger-scale production and distribution.
- Increased consumer acceptance.
Early research shows that hybrid products could appeal to consumers who are hesitant to fully embrace plant-based meats and/or cultivated products (once available) but are curious about trying something new that still contains traditional animal-based protein.
- Ethical appeal.
For consumers motivated by ethical concerns, hybrid plant-based and cultivated/precision fermented foods offer a happy medium, reducing reliance on traditional animal agriculture while still delivering a meat-like experience.
- Improved fat marbling.
Integrating plant-based fats with cultivated muscle tissue can mimic the marbling found in conventional meat, enhancing juiciness and mouthfeel. This can be a game-changer in plant-based meat products targeting discerning consumers looking for these qualities.
- Accelerated market entry of cellular agriculture products.
100% cultivated/precision fermented meat and dairy products are still a long way off from arriving on supermarket shelves, but by combining plant-based and cultivated/precision fermented ingredients, manufacturers can respond faster to consumer demand for alternatives to conventional animal-based products.4
Developing specific components, like fat, for example, means facing fewer technological and regulatory hurdles, compared to developing a completely cultivated or precision fermented meat product. Thus, hybrid products containing ingredients like cultivated/precision fermented fat have the potential to hit the market more quickly.
The market landscape
While regulations currently limit hybrid products from being available worldwide, there are products on the market in both the US and Singapore. For example, GOOD Meat’s5 cultivated chicken nuggets, launched in Singapore in 2020, were actually a hybrid of plant-based and cultivated ingredients.6
Meanwhile, companies are developing hybrid products containing ingredients made through cellular agriculture and plant-based ones, including:
- Cultimate
- GOOD Meat
- Hoxton Farms
- Mission Barns
- Peace of Meat
- NoPalm
- Nourish
Reports say that investors are currently divided over the potential of hybrid meat products,7 but recent funding efforts say otherwise. In April this year, Cultimate Foods raised a significant 2.4 million euros to scale its cultivated fat for use in plant-based products.8 Additionally, Hoxton Farms, have raised a total of USD 25 million, with an impressive USD 22 million of this in last year’s series A funding, showing that investors have faith in both hybrid products and companies producing ingredients for the future market.
Watch our interview with Cultimate here!
Actionable insights
The hybrid food products market is relatively new and presents several unique challenges. These span from technical and production difficulties to consumer perception and regulatory issues. ProVeg makes the following recommendations for businesses looking to overcome these challenges and optimize future market opportunities:
- Reduce production costs and increase scalability: Invest in research and development to improve cultivation techniques, such as optimizing cell culture media and bioreactor design, to reduce costs and increase scalability. Likewise, establishing larger production facilities and investing in automation can reduce the per-unit cost.
- Optimize your supply chain: Collaborate with suppliers of plant-based/cultivated/precision fermentation ingredients and cultivation materials to streamline the supply chain, reduce costs, and ensure consistent quality.
- Promote education and transparency: Provide clear and transparent information about production processes, nutritional benefits, and environmental advantages of hybrid products to build trust and acceptance. This should be done before products hit the mass market (using your website and social channels, for example).
- Develop targeted marketing strategies: Create distinct marketing strategies tailored to your desired audience segment. To attract meat-eaters, for example, emphasize your product’s authentic meat-like taste and texture. Focusing on this aspect will be key in converting omnivores and flexitarians who are seeking more convincing meat alternatives. For alternative protein enthusiasts or health-conscious consumers, focus on the nutritional advantages, such as high protein content, fiber, and essential nutrients.
- Embrace familiarity: Familiarity is essential to bridge and expand the consumer acceptance gap – use common plant-based proteins like soy and pea. These offer familiarity and can ease adoption, since these proteins are already present in many food products.
- Conduct nomenclature testing: Conduct consumer testing to determine the most effective and appealing terminology for hybrid products, similar to previous efforts for cultivated meat.
- Advocate for standardization: Advocate for standardized naming and labeling practices that clearly communicate the product’s nature and benefits, reducing consumer confusion and enhancing category recognition.
- Engage with regulatory bodies: Work closely with regulatory authorities to ensure compliance with safety and labeling standards. You can also participate in public consultations and provide data to support the safety and benefits of hybrid products.
- Develop strategic partnerships: If you are a cultivated meat company, consider partnering with plant-based companies, and vice versa. Partner with reliable suppliers and establish long-term contracts to ensure a consistent supply of quality ingredients.
- Enhance compatibility through improved ingredients: Invest in developing/sourcing new plant-based ingredients that can enhance the compatibility and synergy between cultivated, precision fermentation, and plant-based components.
- Lower production costs: Continuously innovate to reduce production costs and pass savings on to consumers. As production scales up, the cost per unit will likely decrease.
- Emphasize value proposition: In marketing efforts, emphasize the added value of hybrid products, such as health benefits, sustainability, and innovation, to justify the higher price point.
- Optimize product development for versatile applications: Offer variations of hybrid products that cater to different consumer needs and use cases. For example, create options with varying ratios of plant-based to cultivated meat components to appeal to both meat reducers and alternative protein enthusiasts. This customisation can attract a broader audience by meeting specific dietary preferences and nutritional goals.
Hybrid food products represent a unique opportunity for manufacturers to innovate and lead in the alternative protein space. By blending the best of plant-based and cultivated ingredients, these products can deliver on the promise of better taste, nutrition, and sustainability.
For companies looking to capture this growing market, investing in R&D, consumer education, and strategic partnerships will be key to overcoming challenges and scaling production.
As consumer demand for healthier, ethical, and tasty food continues to rise, hybrid products offer an exciting path forward – bridging the gap between today’s food system and tomorrow’s sustainable solutions.
For more support on your alternative protein strategy, you can get in touch with our expert team at [email protected].
References
- When plant-based meets cultivated, (2022). ProVeg International. Available at: https://proveg.org/report/hybrid-consumer/. Accessed: 2024-08-20.
- Study Shows 90% of Plant-Based Consumers are Neither Vegetarian Nor Vegan. Vegconomist, (2019). Available at: https://vegconomist.com/studies-and-numbers/study-shows-90-of-plant based-consumers-are-neither-vegetarian-nor-vegan/ Accessed 2022-11-03.
- (2024). ProVeg International New Food Hub. Available at: https://proveg.org/article/the-powerful-potential-of-cultivated-fats-expert-insights-from-cultimate/. Accessed 2024-09-18.
- When plant-based meets cultivated, (2022). ProVeg International. Available at: https://proveg.org/report/hybrid-consumer/. Accessed: 2024-08-20.
- (EAT Just’s cultivated divison)
- Sam Danley (2021) Unlocking opportunities in hybrid meats, Food Business News. Available at: https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/18173-unlocking-opportunities-in-hybrid-meats Accessed 2022-11-03.
- Why investors are divided over blended meat, (2024). Green Queen. Available at: https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/blended-hybrid-meat-investors-startups-funding/. Accessed: 2024-09-23.
- The potential of cultivated fats, (2024). ProVeg International New Food Hub. Available at: https://proveg.org/article/the-powerful-potential-of-cultivated-fats-expert-insights-from-cultimate/. Accessed 2024-09-18.
