Alternative Protein Market is estimated to be worth $27.05 billion by 2027. With a population of some 4.7 billion people – equivalent to 60% of the global population – increasing affluence and a rising middle class, Asia will determine global protein growth for decades to come. So what will the future of alternative proteins in the region look like? Join us for Day 2 at APA to learn about the opportunities and bottlenecks of this emerging industry.

Research suggests that faster technological innovation and full regulatory support could speed up growth for alternative protein by 22% by 2035. At that rate, Europe and North America would reach “peak meat” by 2025, and the consumption of animal protein in these markets would begin to decline.

As investments in alternatives nearly doubled in 2021 across APAC alone, one may expect a similar trajectory for this emerging industry in this part of the world. Regulatory frameworks offer many opportunities for harmonization and the regulator is playing a key role in advancing the sector and offering trading opportunities. This panel discussion co-organized by The Good Food Institute (GFI APAC) looks at the now and next for new protein regulation in Asia and across the globe. Learn how the industry can take advantage of ever-changing regulatory environments and join us for an exciting deep dive into:

• From science to reality: Current state of regulations for novel foods in APAC and key countries
• Opportunities for regulatory advancements and international harmonisation
• How to navigate Singapore’s novel foods framework – the most advanced in the world
• Resources for startups and industry to overcome major challenges for to regulatory approvals

To compete with conventional products, alternative proteins must achieve several feats: be on par with price, flavour and desirability of any other protein food in the supermarket isle, if not surpass those.

Replicating the full Asian food experience with alternatives has proven tricky, but brands believe there is untapped potential within the broader seafood and dairy flavor category as well through addressing culture and convenience directly. To unlock the largest market, the omnivores, new protein producers are employing diverse strategies to change traditional buyer behavior.

Can you tap into kosher or halal markets with cultured meat? How does GenZ approach the topic of more ethical foods? Should you market direct to consumers and avoid middlemen? This panel is looking at success stories of innovative brands on how to maximise the marketing or R&D dollar to reach growth in Asia:

• Global Data -> on the seven consumer profiles that are most likely to create growth opportunities in alt proteins
• Green Rebel -> on market opportunities in Indonesia or Singapore, products for easy-to-adopt and traditional recipes
• Green Bridge Partners -> on alternative meat was yesterday, egg is today and reaching audiences through different means, ComiCon, GenZ, D2C (direct to D2C) retail strategy
• Accor -> on future-proofing a F&B strategy by bringing plant-based eating to the mainstream

The demand for plant-based meat, dairy, and eggs increased due to unprecedented demand during the lockdown in 2020 as consumers around the world stayed at home, cooked, focused on their health, and reconsidered the plate-to-planet impact.

According to GlobalData, the market value of the global meat substitutes reached $7 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 8.82% during 2017-2021, whereas it grew at a CAGR of 15.63% in the US during the same period. This session will use data analytics from consumer surveys, news reports, patent filing, deals and acquisitions in order to explore the strength and direction of the industry in the Asian markets. Join this intelligence session to:

• Understand the relevant consumer trends and attitudes that can drive and support innovation and brand strategy
• Evaluating Patent landscape to analyse the top technology trends, key geographies and promising market players in alternative protein area
• The leading players in foodservice, ingredients and technology providers
  Current changes in consumer behavior in Asia
• What we can learn from venture capital involvement in the market

Day 3 of APA will be dedicated to the emerging trends and innovation that will shape the alternative market in years ahead. Experts predict that more consumers will have a chance to taste alt dairy or protein products produced via precision fermentation. This technology enables the programming of micro-organisms to produce complex organic molecules, such as proteins.

The price of alternative protein foods is fundamentally determined by the underlying technology, its scalability, and innovative approaches to manufacture efficient, safe, and delicious products. In order for distributors or buyers to understand the promising methods driving our next gen foods, their marketability as well as price points, this seminar is to give an overview what’s to come in:

• Status of Plant-based Tech
• Promises of Cell-based Tech
• Potentials of Hybrid – Plant-based and Cultured Ingredients
  • Cell Cultivation (cellular)
  • Precision Fermentation (a-cellular)
• Emergence of Plant Molecular Farming (PMF)
• Don’t forget Algae, Insects or Mushrooms
• What role does AI and machine learning play in accelerating the next foods we will eat?

Despite the challenges of scaling and cost, the cultured meat industry will further attract investment and innovations. Until now, Singapore has been the only nation to approve the sale of cultured meat, though with China having released its five-year agricultural plan, which specifically mentions cultivated meat, the industry might change rapidly soon.

We may equally see cultivated meat blends with plant protein ingredients, both to lower costs and appeal to consumers who are looking for nutritional features like fiber.

The emergence of innovative new processes such as plant molecular farming (PMF) has the industry excited. It uses plants as recombinant protein production hosts to produce ingredients that traditionally only exist in animal products. The process is similar to precision fermentation but utilizes plants instead of bacteria or fungi as cell factories. Join our expert panel for an exciting exchange on the now and next in alternative proteins!

The dairy industry is incredibly lucrative with its food market share expected to increase by USD 109 billion from 2020 to 2025 at an accelerated growth rate of 2.79% CAGR. 44% of this market’s growth is expected to originate from APAC with India and China taking center stage. This development is not the only evolution for dairy as the alternative competition is on the rise and the feasibility of a future with cellular agriculture is slowly becoming a reality.

By combining food science and nutritional research, next-generation cheese products could have greater appeal to consumers and equally be much more sustainable. Join this session on why we need precision fermentation derived casein’s, their functionality, and how we can envision the transition to non-animal derived dairy including cheeses.

Recovery from Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, and changing weather patterns are some recent trends that have driven interesting dynamics in the price of protein. How have resulting resource shortages, hikes in feed costs, and commodity export bans in Asia affected the price of protein? Has the plant-based protein sector been more shielded from these market shocks than the conventional meat sector? What might we expect in terms of price dynamics going forward?

APAC consumers are often branded as especially price sensitive when it comes to purchasing protein. Many companies in the region have been focused on launching cheaper plant-based products in local markets in the belief that consumers will be more willing to buy. Have lower-priced plant-based products been accompanied with the expected increases in interest and sales? What can we gather so far about the role of price as a driver of plant-based purchasing in Asia?

When we think of bringing down costs, economies of scale is an imperative. However, we need to explore a variety of pathways to optimise the supply chain for ingredients and infrastructure and reach price parity as fast as we can. What levers do we have to decrease costs, from ingredient diversification, processing substitution, localisation, hybridisation, and retrofitting infrastructure, to commercialising sidestreams? What do we need to do as an industry to progress along all these fronts? What is the role of price in unlocking scale in alternative proteins? Which pathways can we explore to bring down costs?

The first study we will present was the first to compare consumer acceptance of cultured meat in the U.S. and in Singapore. With a representative sample of 616 Singaporeans and 759 Americans, our results revealed that Singaporean respondents had greater acceptance of cultured meat compared to their American counterparts, and this cultural difference was explained by Singaporeans’ stronger social image eating motivations. We argue that Singaporeans’ motivation to project a favorable social image of being “trailblazers” through their food choice is one reason why they might express a higher acceptance of novel foods such as cultured meat.

The second study we will present is an exploratory investigation into the similarities and differences between actual cultured meat eaters and meat eaters who have not eaten cultured meat in Singapore. Our findings indicate that consumers are accepting of cultured meat when they perceive assurance of safety as well as benefits to human, animal and environmental health, especially in a culture where people have strong social image motivations. In addition, our findings indicate that perceptions of cultured meat’s unnaturalness can be overcome when the above conditions are in place.

The world’s consumers love animal-based protein—so much so that in 2020 they ate 574 million metric tons’ worth of meat, seafood, dairy, and eggs—almost 75 kilograms per person. So the adoption of alternative proteins will have a measurable positive impact on the environment, supporting a number of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals including responsible consumption and production, and zero hunger. The shift to plant-based meat and eggs alone will save more than 1 gigaton of CO2 equivalent by 2035—the equivalent of Japan becoming carbon-neutral for an entire year. It will also save 39 billion cubic meters of water, enough to supply the city of London for 40 years. How important is the environmental aspect in transitioning perhaps even partially to these foods?

With the impacts of climate change being at an all-time high, the food industry needs to play its role in mitigating environmental impacts and help transition to a lower carbon society. To discuss food security, food waste and sustainability this expert panel will elaborate on what concrete steps companies and individuals can take in order to mitigate the problems we face today as well as finding opportunities through innovative solutions and technologies.

Join us for presentations and a roundtable to discuss:

• • Food Waste,
  • Opportunities
  • Sustainable solutions in F&B