Europe’s plant-based meat sector appears in rude health. Retail sales in western Europe rose 19% to a record €2.4 billion in 2021, according to food sustainability NGO the Good Food Institute’s annual state of the industry reports. That beats North America, where sales last year stayed flat in value terms at $1.4 billion (€1.3 billion).

But when the US sneezes, Europe catches a cold. The GFI further admits that capturing even a fraction of the global meat market – estimated in 2020 at 328 million tonnes and worth more than $1 trillion – is a “colossal opportunity”.

Those companies looking to sell products based on plant proteins need to choose their strategy very carefully, and of all the strategy choices “it’s the meat substitute category which has the biggest problem”, ​warned Julian Mellentin, director of New Nutrition Business. He told his food consultancy’s podcast the meat substitute category will only begin to achieve its ambition of truly disrupting the meat industry when ingredient suppliers and product developers can deliver products that “actually deliver human expectations of good taste, good texture and a reasonably short ingredient list”.​

Technology – specifically high moisture extrusion (HME) – is one area that’s key to producing more realistic meat replicas.

While the traditionally used low moisture extrusion delivers a fibrous, spongy texture and shelf-stable product that will need rehydrating, HME delivers a more fibrous, striated, meaty product that must be chilled or frozen.