Plant-based alternative food grows its share in the industry

The global food system transforms to the direction where plant-based options are accessible to all. Research from U.K. investment bank Barclays last year forecast that the value of the global plant-based food and drink market could soar by more than 1,000% over the next decade.

The market goes far beyond vegans and vegetarians. Plant-based meals are consumed by customers who use animal products as well.

Trendy milk

A Sweden-based firm that produces plant-based alternatives to milk is planning to expand and open its first UK factory, BBC reports. The company sells its products in more than 20 countries across Europe and Asia.

“Oatly” is the vegan food and drink products maker, founded by brothers Rickard and Björn Öste in the 1990s. To supply the increased demand, it submitted proposals to open a production facility in Peterborough. Facility will create at least 200 jobs in 2023. The unit will be capable of producing up to 300 million litres of oat milk per year at launch, the company said. Oats would be sourced locally and across the UK to supply products for the national market, the firm added. The UK factory would have the capacity to grow and produce up to 450 million litres of drink per year.

Sustainability is announced to be the core of factory planning, so the company aims to use 100% renewable energy, and decrease its energy consumption, water consumption and waste by 75% each at the factory, by 2029.

Part of green investments

Last year, Oatly raised $200m, drawing investment from celebrities including Jay-Z, Oprah Winfrey and Natalie Portman. That’s good evidence of a huge trend of green investments. Furthermore, according to Corporate Knights, natural food production is one of leading sectors between top cleanest companies in the world.

Having in mind that the world’s cattle produce more greenhouse gases than all its automobiles, food industry companies include and develop plant-based food production as a common sense choice of their sustainability strategies.

For example, a food giant Unilever is leading its new push into veggie products. In November, Unilever unveiled a plan to boost its sales of plant-based foods over the next few years to €1 billion a year – a fivefold increase. It’s part of the company’s Future Foods initiative, to provide consumers with healthier foods while also reducing their environmental impact.

Untapped potential

While milk alternatives are already famous, alternative meat producers have plenty to do to make their products mainstream. Research and development would help to improve nutrition and taste while keeping prices competitive. Green marketing plays its role emphasizing the health, animal welfare and environmental benefits. There are producers in Lithuania offering fully vegetarian vegan products, such as sausages, hot dogs, pâtés, etc, like UAB Bimala. These products are handmade, not mass production.
The research, published last year by Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, shows that the supply of vegan products on the Latvian market consists mostly of imported goods. The majority of the vegan products found in Latvian online stores comes from Germany. The most important ingredient in the production in product groups such as meat substitutes and dairy alternatives is soya. There is a scarce of everyday vegan products in the Latvian market, as most of the products are snacks at the moment. Locally grown legumes should be used as an ingredient in the production of new vegan products, suggested researchers.
All three Baltic countries have a strong agriculture sector, which is among the strong drivers of their economy. That also means a great potential for local supply of food and beverages industry, including plant-based alternatives.