Vegetable-based meat substitutes are intended to displace beef patties in burgers. This is exemplified by the products and marketing programs of both Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger. The technology required to produce the approximate texture of ground meat using a combination of vegetable protein from pulses, oils and additives is apparently not complicated. Reproducing the mouth feel of real meat is yet another challenge.
NovaMeat in Spain has patented micro-extrusion technology in an attempt to reproduce the texture of meat cuts. Plant-based ingredients are forced through a dye to form thin fibers simulating muscle tissue. The fibers are then layered to produce a product with the approximate appearance and texture resembling either beef or chicken. Trials are in progress in Barcelona to perfect a product that will be acceptable to patrons of fine dining establishments. According to developers it may be a number of years (and presumably considerable invested capital!) before the technology is perfected.
Irrespective of the outcome it is evident that the level of sophistication will add to cost and it is questioned whether a textured vegetable protein substitute will be competitive with real products. Currently simple vegetable burgers cost on average $1 per serving more than conventional beef. None of the vegetable protein companies appears to be generating profits or even an acceptable return on investment, despite demand and expanding volumes of production. If, as expected, demand for vegetable meat substitutes plateaus, as the curiosity factor evaporates, there may well be a lot of disappointed venture capital investors.