Attractive plant-based meat made in Finland

With inno­va­tions based on com­bin­ing cel­lu­lar agri­cul­ture with diverse, local­ly avail­able crops, food pro­duc­ers can pro­vide authen­tic, next-gen­er­a­tion meat alter­na­tives on an indus­tri­al scale.  VTT Tech­ni­cal Research Cen­tre of Fin­land pos­sess­es a unique tool­box to devel­op game-chang­ing inno­va­tions for meat alter­na­tives, mak­ing it pos­si­ble to offer real, authen­tic expe­ri­ences for consumers.

VTT, a research insti­tute, has devel­oped a break­through sci­en­tif­ic approach that could bring sus­tain­able, authen­tic meat alter­na­tives to car­ni­vores and flex­i­tar­i­ans around the globe. 

“We use cel­lu­lar-agri­cul­ture-based tech­niques com­bined with our long-term exper­tise work­ing with chal­leng­ing, plant-based raw mate­ri­als to trans­form nutri­tious, local crops into deli­cious food­stuffs that offer an iden­ti­cal sen­so­ry expe­ri­ence to ani­mal-based meat. Our inno­va­tion toolk­it allows pro­duc­ers to per­fect­ly recre­ate the siz­zling fat and juicy ten­der­ness of meat like nev­er before,” says Nes­li Söz­er, Research Pro­fes­sor at VTT.

Key details: 

• VTT’s mul­ti-tech­nique approach allows food pro­duc­ers to turn under-utilised or local plants such as fava beans and sorghum into burg­ers, steaks, sausages, and more.
• With its plant-based, cel­lu­lar agri­cul­ture exper­tise, VTT has the tools to repli­cate the build­ing blocks of ani­mal meat, such as pro­teins and lipids, to cre­ate a 100 per­cent iden­ti­cal sen­so­ry expe­ri­ence, right down to the siz­zle of fat in the pan.
• This is a sus­tain­able, scal­able solu­tion to the prob­lem of meat, using diverse, cli­mate-resis­tant local crops that can be grown almost anywhere.
• VTT’s approach unlocks the high nutri­tion­al val­ue of plant-based raw mate­ri­als that are rarely used in main­stream meat alter­na­tive products.
• Food pro­duc­ers can lever­age these inno­va­tions to meet soar­ing glob­al demand for meat while shoring up food secu­ri­ty and resilience.

Meat is a major source of emis­sions, and meat pro­duc­tion tends to be over­ly cen­tralised and vul­ner­a­ble to sup­ply chain dis­rup­tions. A new, sus­tain­able food sys­tem requires a dietary shift towards plant-based proteins. 

“In order to solve these chal­lenges, we need plant-based meat that can gen­uine­ly sati­ate demand and that can be scaled in a way that improves food secu­ri­ty and nutri­tion for all,” explains Sözer. 

“Con­sumer accep­tance has a key role in the devel­op­ment of fea­si­ble busi­ness around plant-based pro­tein ingre­di­ents for meat alter­na­tives. It’s not enough for some­thing to look like meat. We need nutri­tion­al and healthy foods that are indis­tin­guish­able from ani­mal-based meat in every way, that allows peo­ple every­where to enjoy the expe­ri­ence of meat, with­out the guilt,” Söz­er continues.

Next-gen­er­a­tion meat alter­na­tives poised to breathe life into the market 

Although the meat alter­na­tives indus­try has grown rapid­ly in pre­vi­ous years, there is still a long jour­ney ahead before plant-based meat can tru­ly gain a foothold the market. 

As glob­al demand for meat con­tin­ues to sky­rock­et, VTT stands ready to col­lab­o­rate with food and raw-mate­r­i­al pro­duc­ers to accel­er­ate alter­na­tive meat inno­va­tions and empow­er them to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to scale, nutri­tion, and sustainability. 

VTT aims at tack­ling the world’s biggest chal­lenges. Plant-based food, cel­lu­lar agri­cul­ture and agile man­u­fac­tur­ing are key areas that can con­tribute to pro­vid­ing new oppor­tu­ni­ties for sus­tain­able food systems.

“By com­bin­ing our expe­ri­ence in plant-based ingre­di­ents, food design and cel­lu­lar agri­cul­ture, we can cre­ate proof-of-con­cept of pro­to­types for tasty, iden­ti­cal meat alter­na­tives that are ready to be scaled up for indus­tri­al pro­duc­tion. By sup­port­ing com­pa­nies to devel­op sus­tain­able pro­duc­tion process­es and prod­ucts that have broad cus­tomer appeal, we can also work togeth­er towards a future that is free from food crises,” Söz­er concludes.