Featuring an exclusive interview with Blue Tribe Foods
The UN General Assembly announced the observance of World Pulses Day back in 2013, The idea was to recognize the contribution of pulses towards achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Pulses are recognized for their nutritional value, environmental benefits, and food security. They play an important role in climate change mitigation as they can decrease dependence on artificial fertilizers by introducing nutrients such as nitrogen into the soil.
Legumes and pulses also improve the fertility of the soil and soil biodiversity, keeping harmful pests away. Additionally, pulses have a broad genetic diversity, making them climate-smart, meaning they adapt to changing climates, and more varieties can be made climate-resilient.
Pulses are among the main sources of protein for people who don’t consume meat, which brings us to the focal point of our article on the growing plant-based meat market & manufacturing.
Rise of Plant-Based Meat in the world:
While the existence of plant-based meat alternatives can be traced back to the 70s in the US, it has seen rising global popularity. There are several reasons people are opting for alternative sources, with climate change and environmental reasons being on top of the list.
Globally there are companies like Beyond Meat, Impossible Foods and many others using science to manufacture and produce plant-based alternatives that taste and function like real meat while reducing the impact on the environment. The global plant-based meat market is set to grow to $23.2 billion by 2024, market research company
India isn’t far behind on the transition towards adopting plant-based meats. As a country with a large vegetarian population, we are no strangers to using pulses & legumes as part of our daily food. The major focus for the plant-based meat market was on creating alternatives to replace or substitute meat and now India has over 20+ major plant-based meat brands with the numbers steadily growing.
Large corporations are also looking into entering the plant-based protein market, amid market pressure and changes in consumer behaviour.
ITC enters plant-based meat market, citing GFI India\’s research. 63% of urban non-vegetarians would buy plant-based meats regularly.
GFI India identifies India\’s potential as a sourcing and manufacturing hub for alternative proteins due to its agricultural and industrial prowess.
Plant-Based Meat Manufacturing in India:
India is one of the largest producers of protein-rich food grains, such as pluses. The production of pulses (tur, urad and other lentils) across India was estimated to be around 25 million metric tons in FY-21.
With respect to the technologies required to capitalize on these opportunities, a variety of well-understood and related food processes already exist. This allows plant-based meat manufacturers to take a template-based approach to raw materials and overall processing systems.
Extrusion exemplifies wide use in producing cereals, puffed snacks, bars, and pasta, and it serves as a key platform in producing plant-based meat. Interview with Blue Tribe Foods: A Plant-Based Meat Startup
Blue Tribe Foods is a pioneer in plant-based meat products in India. They recently saw Virat Kohli & Anushka Sharma join them as investors and brand ambassadors. To learn more about Blue Tribe Foods you can visit their website
We spoke with Mr. Sohil Wazir, their Chief Commercial Officer, about the plant-based meat market for an insider perspective. Continue reading the interview below:
1. How did you decide to enter the plant-based meat space what were the influencing factors?
Environmental reasons:
Industrial animal agriculture causes 18% of human-generated carbon emissions; shifting away from meat is crucial to secure the planet\’s future.
Nutritional reasons:
Even from a resources standpoint, getting food from animals is about 8 times less efficient per calorie than getting it directly from plants. Not to mention the land and water usage which puts stress on indigenous food systems.
They set the pitch!
2021 saw the launch of plant-based meat as a mainstream food option, with a slew of new products hitting the Indian market that mimic meat in taste, texture, and mouth-feel and even close the gap in nutrition through strides in technology. These products are trying to bridge the gap between what tastes great, and what\’s good for the planet.
Blue Tribe is our effort to make plant-based meat products for the Indian taste palate, moving away from beef imitations, which are the norm for most Western markets.
2. How is the current market for plant-based meat and how is the market expected to shape up in the future?
Currently, western markets have an established presence of plant-based meat products. In India, this category is still in its infancy but has come a long way in the last couple of years. With more people and celebrities investing in the space, the industry is bound to grow at a breakneck pace.
Until recently, plant-based meats were a fringe food item, consumed mainly by vegans either at home or at vegan restaurants. Now, every restaurant has some options available for its clientele. It has become more mainstream and will continue to do so as demand grows.
3. What is the manufacturing process? (We would like to understand how mechanised it is, what are some common production bottlenecks, etc)
For manufacturing, we leverage existing technologies and adapt them to fit our production needs. The primary process used is low-moisture protein extrusion. A step-by-step breakup is below:
- Extrusion transforms ingredients such as biopolymers (inputs) into a continuous semi-solid (output). To conclude this process, a screw system within a barrel transfers mass (a combination of dry ingredients, water, and/or oil) through a die (small opening).
- The mass is then exposed to a combination of parameters, including heat, mechanical energy, pressure, and moisture etc.
- The continuous fluid passes through the extruder according to its specific parameters, exits a die, and is cut into various lengths.
- Post-extrusion, the output is semi-solid and retains moisture. Wet Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) output will go through marination, coating, and/or cooling steps. To create dry TVP, the product will pass directly from the extruder onto a conveyor, and then into a dryer.
The type of machines we use also depends on the output we want to produce i.e. Chicken nuggets, sausages, keema etc.
One of the major production challenges we faced was in acquiring flavours, which were not readily available in the Indian market. To combat this, we plan our production volumes at least 6 months in advance. Planning this far ahead means that any change would take time to implement.
Production challenges remain, but lead times are reduced. More vendors available. Continuously seeking improvements in production. Our goal is to achieve price parity with meat, in order for us to be a true substitute.
4. What are the warehousing and cold storage requirements for your industry?
Currently, we are renting out cold storage for our purpose. We need to have decentralised, city-wise cold storage to be able to service the market quickly.
5. Also please tell us briefly about the infrastructure available in India for such industries.
We are currently piggybacking on infrastructure used for ice creams, as they also fall into the same frozen category. This has very poor infrastructure outside of the key 25-30 cities. So scaling beyond these is proving to be a problem.
6. Is there a need to engage with food consultants? What would be your advice in this respect for other food start-ups in lieu of this?
We have an in-house R&D consisting of both food scientists as well as a chef who work in tandem to develop the products. This category is going to need a lot of innovation to be able to match taste, format, availability and pricing.
7. What are the testing and certification requirements? How does one go about this – Where to go/timelines/ resources required in the process?
There are multiple agencies that can provide vegan and vegetarian certifications. For exports, regions require a few more certifications that vary.
Data sources: Bloomberg, Euromonitor &CNBC, Statistical Research Department, GFI India & BlueTribe Foods.
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