IFT First 2024: dsm-firmenich predicts “shakedown” in the plant-based space
25 Jul 2024 | dsm-firmenich
Consolidation in the plant-based space is “inevitable,” says Rishabh Pande, regional VP of ingredient solutions of North America for Taste, Texture & Health at dsm-firmenich. While plant protein companies look to scale up and drive prices down, Pande suggests that protein fortification may be an easier sell than meat analogs. “Less disruptive” categories like bakery can help consumers increase their protein content without compromising on the sensory experience.
This is Missy Green with Food Ingredients first.
I'm here with Rishab Ponde, who's the regional vice president for North American Ingredient Solutions.
So Rishab, could you tell us a little bit about what's happening in the plant-based market?
There is a lot of activity in that space.
We anticipate a fair amount of consolidation taking place in that space as , but I'd say that's another big area, that we're seeing right now.
Hm, what do you mean about consolidation?
You know, when you see the number of players in that space in the plant protein area, you see the amount of money that has been pumped into it, but you don't necessarily see the success in the marketplace.
It is inevitable, and this has happened over and over again across industries.
It is inevitable that there will be a point where companies will start consolidating, buying.
Other companies, they will be looking to get the technologies that have been developed, but these other smaller companies may not have the route to market, so it will be a marriage of convenience to a certain extent, but I also see there being a bit of a shakedown, and I would anticipate this happening over the next year or so where you will see some of the bigger players actually become a little bit bigger, and I think it's a good thing for the industry because you need that.
You do need investment and you do need persistence for the plant space to deliver the growth that we've all been hoping it will deliver, but it has kind of flattered to deceive so far.
So does that mean that DSM Firmanic is looking for some acquisition opportunities?
Not ourselves.
I think what we're anticipating is our customers potentially getting into these sorts of acquisitions.
We have already got a very nice portfolio that we have built over the last few years in the plant protein space.
We have our canola protein.
We have our pea proteins and other proteins.
That are coming from the best corn acquisition so we are already pretty positioned from a plant protein space at the moment we're looking more to also build off what we've already acquired and truly drive value from that, but it's more in terms of our customers and the marketplace that I am anticipating a little bit of that consolidation taking place.
Do you have some prototypes here featuring your protein solutions?
We do actually.
There are a few prototypes that we have from protein solutions.
We actually have, and that actually speaks a little bit to maybe the challenge that the plant protein space has been seeing.
I think there is an attempt to try and, you know, put plant proteins into.
A large part of consumers' diets, and particularly in the meat alternative space, and that's perhaps not the easiest sell, , a, a smarter approach might be to try and infiltrate plant proteins into other parts of the diet that are not so disruptive.
So in keeping with that trend we're seeing a lot of protein fortification opportunities.
So one of the prototypes that we have that unfortunately I don't have a demo here of being able to show you is a tortilla.
Which we have fortified with our canola protein and that's a great way of getting extra protein into a plant-based diet potentially, especially if you think of, you know, tacos that do not have meat in them so you wanna increase the amount of protein that you're delivering to consumers and that's a nice way of doing that.
So that's one example that I can that I can highlight that we have here at the show.
It's very interesting.
So, What are some of the, what are some of the challenges that the plant-based market still faces?
So I think there are maybe 2 or 3 challenges the plant-based market faces.
Price is always gonna be one of them, because indeed what consumers are competing against, particularly in the meat alternative space, is the cost of what they would be paying for meat versus what they have to pay for good quality plant, plant protein, meat analogs, right?
I think that's going to be a challenge.
Now that is a scaling challenge.
It's a bit of a catch-22.
Unless some of these companies get scale, they can't bring their prices down, and unless they bring their prices down, they may not get the scale.
So I think that's a little bit of a balance that we need to see.
But indeed price is one big challenge from a consumer perspective.
Nutrition is the other big challenge.
So when you look at a plant-based meat alternative, for instance, it does not have naturally the same nutrient profile as meat would.
So that refortification or reintroduction of those nutrients back into that product is one of the big challenges.
And again, you know, a bit of a self plug here for DSM Firman, we are extremely placed with our portfolio to be able to do that, right?
And then you would also say potentially texture.
Because again, you know, trying to get the same texture as meat is not an easy thing.
It's been easier to do in some instances.
Chicken, fish are more fibrous in nature, so you can actually get those textures quite nicely.
Ground beef to a certain extent, but there are other certain types of meats that you haven't been able to do that, right?
So I think the challenges are indeed in terms of nutrition, in terms of pricing, in terms of.
Taste and texture.
But not insurmountable.
These are all areas where companies like us have a tremendous amount of solutions that can help our customers deliver products that are delighting consumers.
I'll just give you one example.
We have a fantastic chicken nugget that is plant-based 100%, and , like for like, I would go for the plant-based, and I'm not just saying this because it's our product, but we have managed to get the taste, the texture, the nutritional, everything.
As good if not better than an actual chicken nugget, right?
So when you have products like that, it's a lot easier for consumers to make that transition because nobody's going to be willing to compromise.
Think of it from your own perspective, you know, you may want to be environmentally conscious.
You may want to say, hey, I want to move towards a plant forward diet, but you're not gonna do that at the expense of taste, and you're certainly not going to do that if it's going to pinch your pocket.
So I think those are some of the challenges that we see.
