78: What alternative proteins will feed the future?
Alternative proteins have come a long way. With consumer demand rising for alternatives to meat for environmental, health and ethical concerns we take a look at the latest developments in the alternative proteins space. What is the future for plant-based substitutes, will consumers react positively to lab-grown meat, and where will the market grow in the future? Joining us to answer this and more is a panel of experts in the field including Peter Verstrate, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Mosa Meat, Neil Stephens, Wellcome Trust Research Fellow, Brunel University, London and Dr.-Ing Florian Wild, Food Tech Consultant, Food Tech Consulting. About our panel Neil Stephens, Wellcome Trust Research Fellow, Brunel University, London Dr Neil Stephens is a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at Brunel University London. He is a sociologist who has been tracking the development of cultured meat since 2008. Peter Verstrate, Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer, Mosa Meat Peter is the food technician behind the world’s first slaughter-free hamburger. He has worked in the processed meat industry for over 20 years in various senior positions ranging from R&D to QA to Operations. He beings a deep knowledge of the meat business developed at international food companies including Sara Lee, Ahold, Smithfield, Campofrio Food Group and Jack Links. He also served as Managing Director of Hulshof Protein Technologies, a leading producer of collage proteins. Peter holds a Master’s in Food Science from Wageningen University. He is passionate about the environment and food security, and highly driven to find a sustainable way to feed the world. Peter co-founded Mosa Meat and as COO is focused on developing an affordable process for high volume production of cultured meat. Dr.-Ing Florian Wild, Food Tech Consultant, Food Tech Consulting Florian works in applied research and development of plant protein ingredients and their application in food. Main applications are plant meat products with a similar fibrous structure and bite as known from various known animal products. He is one of the pioneers using high moisture extrusion for this purpose. Florian Wild graduated as food technologist with a major in cereal technology from the Technical University Berlin in 2003. He joined the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging in Freising, Germany conducting more than 20 national or international research projects. Focus has always been in plant proteins, the development of functional ingredients such as from pulses, cereals and oilseeds as well as the application of such proteins in various foods. He formed the extrusion group and established research on premium meat alternatives using high moisture extrusion cooking to create meat-like fibrous structures. Since 2013, after founding an own business, he has been cooperating closely with companies in the field of food ingredients, meat and further plant based alternatives as well as pulses and cereal processors.