Vegan seafood: The next plant-based meat trend? – BBC News

Cell-based meat, sometimes called lab-grown meat or clean meat, has identical cellular structure to animal meat but doesnt require slaughter. Instead cells from initial donor animals are grown in a bioreactor. The cell lines can continue to be used over and over, creating great potential to reduce animal suffering although for the moment the process is energy-intensive and divisive.

Sriram acknowledges that not all vegetarians and vegans will be on board with this kind of seafood of the future. At the end of the day, cell-based meats are still very much meats to the biological and cellular level so if you do not eat meat, for example, for religious reasons, cell-based meats may not suit you. But for me as a vegetarian, for ethical reasons, I can consume cell-based meats without any guilt.

It will take some time to get there, in any case. A single dumpling made with Shiok shrimp would cost about S$150 ($107, or 85). Sriram says that the company is still at the R&D scale but has plans to grow operations and reduce costs. In general, cell-based and plant-based meats are still more expensive than the conventional versions; as with Shiok, this is primarily an issue of a smaller scale.

Early days

Of course, Covid-19 has altered everything. The traditional meat supply has been disrupted by the spread of infection in crowded processing plants and fishing boats. (Mock meat products are easier to produce in socially distanced conditions.)

One result is that seafood consumption is down in some countries. Overall, demand for plant-based meats has risen since the start of lockdown. Some 23% of surveyed US consumers say theyve been eating more plant-based meals due to Covid-19 (about twice as many as those eating more meat). The figure is highest among 18-24-year-olds. During the lockdown in the US, both animal-based and plant-based meats have experienced surges in sales growth, but the percentage gains have been much higher for the alternative meats. Plant-based meat has grown a lot relative to this period last year, says Lamy.

But its hard to predict the long-term effects of the pandemic on innovative seafood companies, which are prone to excessive exuberance about how soon they can reach the market or how quickly they can spread. For one thing, consumers are likely to be very price sensitive, so the higher prices of seafood alternatives may be more of a stumbling block than usual.

Yet theres more capital and technology flowing into this area than ever before, and Lamy is particularly enthusiastic about partnerships between established seafood companies like Bumble Bee (famous for canned tuna) and Good Catch (getting more famous for faux tuna). Theres room for so many more entrants in this market, she emphasises. Its still early days.

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Vegan seafood: The next plant-based meat trend? - BBC News