Tyson Foods sells stake in Beyond Meat, looks to develop own alternative protein products

25 Apr 2019 --- Tyson Foods has reportedly sold its 6.5 percent stake in vegan burger maker Beyond Meat, as the US’ largest meat processor sets out to develop its own line of alternative protein products. The news comes in the same week Beyond Meat filed to raise up to US$183.8 million in an IPO, seeking a valuation of up to US$1.21 billion.

Based on that valuation, Tyson’s stake would have been worth about US$79 million. Reports note that it was not immediately clear how much Tyson had sold its stake for, however.

Based in Los Angeles, California, Beyond Meat was founded in 2009 with a mission of building meat directly from plants to “positively benefit human health, climate change, natural resource conservation and animal welfare.”

Beyond Meat’s portfolio of plant-based proteins are sold at more than 35,000 retail and food service outlets worldwide. The company is already operating in more than 25 countries, a spokesperson confirms to FoodIngredientsFirst. Investors in Beyond Meat include Tyson Foods, the US’ largest meat processor, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Beyond Meat’s IPO price is expected to be between US$19.00 and US$21.00 per share, before underwriting discounts and commissions. At the upper price range, the flotation would value the company at US$1.2 billion.

Alternative proteins and aspects such as animal welfare and traceability have seen Tyson Foods already invest in a number of projects this year.

In February, Tyson Foods participated in a Series C funding round which raised US$30 million for investments into food-tech company MycoTechnology. MycoTechnology has developed a novel organic food processing platform that transforms agricultural material into functional ingredients. 

The company’s flagship product, ClearTaste, is the world's first organic bitter blocker, which helps companies reduce the sugar content of their products by blocking bitterness. Their second product, PureTaste, seeks to solve the question of how we will feed an exponentially growing population with a sustainable, functional and nutritional plant-based protein made from mushrooms.

Last month, Tyson’s beef and pork subsidiary, Tyson Fresh Meats, joined forces with IdentiGEN to use DNA technology to trace beef back to the individual animal of origin. The DNA TraceBack system is a tool to trace the cattle raised for Tyson’s Open Prairie Natural Angus Beef, proving exactly where the premium cuts of beef come from. 

The process requires a small swab of the animal’s tissue, taken from the carcass at the beginning of the harvest process and uses “nature’s barcode” rather than a label on the package.

The DNA sample from the cattle entering the Open Prairie program will then be used to trace the origin of individual cuts of beef as they move through the supply chain.